Jean Charest reached out to voters in Liberal-friendly West Island Thursday night where he told supporters he was the best man to defend Quebec's anglophone institutions.
The Liberal leader warned supporters at a Dorval rally that the ADQ's election pledge to abolish school boards could jeopardize the future of Quebec's anglophone community, which draws much of its vitality from education institutions.
Charest spent most of his speech talking about the Parti Québécois and its plans for sovereignty.
"We don't want a referendum as fast as possible, as promised by André Boisclair. That is not what we want," he said.
Charest also danced around the prickly issue of municipal demergers by acknowledging there is still work to do to improve the situation, but didn't offer any concrete proposals.
Municipal demergers is a hot button issue in the West Island where many suburbs decided to pull out of mega-city councils in 2004 but are frustrated with their taxation power and budget control under new agglomeration councils.
Several demerged city mayors declared their support for the ADQ in early 2007 to protest how the Liberal government handled demergers. The mayors have so far been unsuccessful in their efforts to meet with Charest to discuss their grievances.
Liberal supporters at the rally said they'd like to see progress on the demerger issue, but were pleased with Charest's performance.
"He's a federalist, and I'm happy to have him," said Joyce Fennel, a Dollard-des-Ormeaux resident.
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| Party | Elected | Leading | Total | Vote Share |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| LIB | 48 | 0 | 48 | 33.08% |
| ADQ | 41 | 0 | 41 | 30.80% |
| PQ | 36 | 0 | 36 | 28.32% |
| QS | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3.65% |
| GRN | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3.89% |
| OTH | 0 | 0 | 0 | .26% |
| Last Update:March 27, 12:52:21 AM EDT | ||||
Quebec Votes 2007 Headlines »
- Que. Liberals take minority win with grain of salt
- Quebec Premier Jean Charest said he'll build bridges with the Parti Québécois and the Action Démocratique du Québec to ensure a stable minority government.
- Dumont will work with Quebec Premier Charest
- Quebec's new Opposition Leader Mario Dumont said he wants stability at the national assembly and pledged to work with the Liberal minority government on a case-by-case basis.
- Boisclair remains at helm after PQ finishes 3rd
- André Boisclair is staying on as leader of the Parti Québécois and vowed to help rebuild the fractured party after it suffered major losses in Monday's provincial election.
- Quebec election result 'good news' for Canada: PM
- Stephen Harper says voters in the Quebec election have used their ballots to reject calls for another referendum in a "great result" for Canada.
- Charest keeps seat as Liberals cling to power in Quebec
- Quebecers are waking up to a minority Liberal government — the first minority in the province in 130 years — and a new official Opposition.