Jean Charest looped through Liberal-friendly ridings in south and central Quebec Thursday as the party continues to try to offset the ADQ's growing popularity in the regions.
In the town of Saint-George, in Beauce South, Charest praised the region's entrepreneurial traditions, and played up his promised tax cuts to a crowd of seniors gathered at a local movie theatre.
His incumbent candidate in the riding, Diane Leblanc, focused most of her speech on ADQ Leader Mario Dumont, telling her supporters he's "the longest one-man show in the history of Quebec," which earned her faint applause.
The riding has elected Liberal MNAs every election over the last three decades, but the outcome this time isn't so clear. Voters in the riding admit the ADQ and local candidate Claude Morin are working hard to win their support. "Let's say there is pressure," said Lorette Maheux, an acquaintance of Leblanc's.
Charest's campaign has turned its sights on the ADQ as polls continue to suggest Mario Dumont's party is neck-and-neck with the Liberals and the PQ, and ahead of both parties in popular support in the key Quebec City region.
The Liberal leader and several candidates are taking turns to pick away at the ADQ's spending details, released on Tuesday after the federal budget was tabled the previous day.
Charest warned the ADQ's platform means cuts to health care and education are "unavoidable." The party's health-care spending projections are $130 million short of what the province needs and services will suffer, he said on Tuesday.
The Liberal leader has spent considerable time defending his surprise $700-million tax cut announcement against accusations he is trying to buy votes. "Quebec's middle class deserves to have a tax reduction," Charest repeated Tuesday while campaigning in St-Henri, outside Quebec City.
He maintained there's nothing wrong with using additional money from the revised equalization formula for tax relief, instead of public services. Charest said he owes Ottawa no explanation on Quebec's policy decisions.
In a Wednesday interview on Radio-Canada television, Liberal candidate Monique Jérôme-Forget justified the proposed tax breaks as the "best option" for spending additional money from Ottawa. There's little point of putting it toward the province's health-care budget right now because the biggest problem is a shortage of nurses and doctors, which can't be fixed with money, she said.
With files from the Canadian PressRelated
| 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.