The Future Coalition of Quebec (CAQ for its acronym in French) won this Monday with a wide margin in the elections of the Canadian province.
Its leader, François Legault (Montreal, 65 years old), thus obtains a new mandate as prime minister for the next four years.
The CWC won 90 of the 125 constituencies up for grabs.
It was enough for him only to win in at least 63 to govern in majority.
"We received a clear message: the Quebecois told us to keep going," Legault said in his victory speech.
The CWC won just over 41% of the overall vote.
Legault's party will have more representation in the Quebec National Assembly than it did in the October 2018 election, when it won 74 constituencies.
As in these elections, he has achieved victory thanks to the great support he garners outside the Montreal metropolitan area.
“Elections divide.
However, I believe that there are more things in Quebec that unite us than divide us,” Legault said.
"I will be the prime minister of all Quebecers," he added.
The Liberal Party of Quebec won 21 constituencies, while Quebec Solidarity (a left-wing group) won 11.
The campaign, which lasted 36 days, was focused on inflation, health, education, environmental care and immigration (an area in which the Francophone province has a high degree of autonomy).
As in the 2018 elections, the issue of independence played a marginal role.
It has not been a surprise that the Party Quebecois, the main secessionist force, has obtained the worst result in its history.
If four years ago he triumphed in 10 constituencies (30 in 2014), this time he has won only three.
Its leader, Paul St-Pierre Plamondon, underlined in the campaign that there is a way to “get out of perpetual failure”: for Quebec to become “a normal country”.
The Party of Quebec has governed for close to 20 years (for five different terms) since its founding in 1968;
a political force that transformed various spheres of Québec society and unsuccessfully organized two secessionist referendums (in 1980 and 1995).
The CAQ, a group created in 2011, managed in 2018 to break with the alternation between liberals and "pequistas", largely thanks to a nationalist discourse in which the identity issue is not linked to the separation from Canada.
In fact, Legault held portfolios in Governments of the Québec Party and defended the pro-independence project, but later founded the CAQ under the idea of a strong Quebec, but within the Canadian federation.
Legault has been distinguished by a conservative economic vision and a tendency to populist speeches.
He does not hesitate to stand up to Ottawa to defend his province's competitions.
He made headlines during the pandemic for a heavy-handed policy.
For example, he implemented a curfew and announced a tax on the unvaccinated for the expenses they generated in the health system (he abandoned the idea shortly after).
Under his first term, Legault enacted a law to strengthen the protection of the French language.
The Anglophone community and immigrant associations rejected him, while the Quebec Party voted against it, considering it "decaffeinated."
Legault's government also imposed a "Quebec values" test on new arrivals and banned public officials in positions of authority from wearing religious symbols -- such as veils and turbans -- during working hours.
These decisions have earned the CWC criticism and accusations, inside and outside the province.
In the case of the veto of religious symbols, Justin Trudeau, Canadian Prime Minister, has indicated that he respects Quebec's powers, but considers the measure "worrying" because it favors division and discrimination.
Trudeau congratulated Legault on Twitter for the election results, underlining his desire to continue working hand in hand for all Quebecers.
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