Quebec election: Legault leads despite ‘catastrophic’ campaign as Oct. 3 vote looms

Polls show the Coalition Avenir Quebec in position to coast to a second majority government Monday, but political observers say there is still plenty to watch for on election night — in particular the profound political shift reflected in the battle for official Opposition.

Thierry Giasson, director of the political science department at Universite Laval, says CAQ Leader Francois Legault has maintained his lead despite lacklustre debate performances and a “catastrophic” campaign in which he struggled to defend his record.

“It wasn’t a good campaign for Francois Legault on pretty much every front,” he said in a recent interview. Legault was forced to apologize twice during the campaign: once for comments linking immigration to “violence” and “extremism,” and again after stating that the problems that led to an Atikamekw woman’s 2020 death at a Joliette hospital had been “resolved.”

His comments drew a rebuke from Joyce Echaquan’s husband and the late woman’s community, who noted that the racism and prejudice that contributed to her death are far from over.

Last week, Legault rebuked his immigration minister for claiming that 80 per cent of immigrants to the province “don’t work” or speak French, and the CAQ leader faced heat of his own for saying it would be “suicidal” to the Quebec nation if immigration levels were raised.

“They are lucky, because they started with an enormous lead,” Giasson said of the CAQ, “but it’s good (for them) that the campaign isn’t longer.”

Despite the campaign missteps, Legault is benefiting from a strong reserve of “sympathy and goodwill” that he cultivated during the last years of managing the pandemic, Giasson said, adding that Quebecers have tended to grant parties more than one mandate.

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Quebec election: Legault on defensive about pandemic management in final days of campaign