‘Québec solidaire is more than a political party, it is a movement’: Manon Massé

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The mood at the Québec solidaire election night party in downtown Montreal was upbeat and energetic from the moment the polls closed and remained so, despite the anticipated proclamation that the Coalition Avenir Québec had achieved a decisive majority.

QS supporters packed the MTelus concert hall as soon as the polls closed on Monday night. Singing “On advancing, on advancing, on recule pas” (“We move forward, we move forward, we will not go back”), the crowd grew larger and more joyful as the night progressed.

The room erupted as news broke that the party’s co-spokeswoman, Manon Massé, had been elected in Sainte-Marie-Saint-Jacques, and seconds after the party’s candidate for prime minister, Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois, had won his riding of Gouin.

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“Québec solidaire is more than a political party, it is a movement, and you have made it possible,” Massé told the crowd as he took the stage shortly after 9 p.m., shortly after it was announced that he had won a third term. as a member of the National Assembly.

As she had done in the 2018 election when she was the party’s candidate for prime minister, Massé won close to 50 percent of the vote in her leadership, leaving her closest opponents, the liberal Christopher Baenninger, the CQA’s Aurélie Diep and Phoeby Laplante of the PQ, far behind.

Nadeau-Dubois was also victorious, with early results showing that he had about 58 per cent of the vote in his leadership of Gouin, well ahead of his closest rivals, Vincent Delorme of the PQ and Catherine Pelletier of the CAQ, who were almost tied for second in that riding, with Liberal Rita Ikhouane trailing on 13 per cent.

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Nadeau-Dubois won his race in 2018 with 59 percent of the vote, easily beating his closest rival at the time, PQ’s Olivier Gignac.

Nadeau-Dubois had been hinting in the closing days of the campaign that the official leader of the opposition was probably the best he could hope for in this election, and was already speaking to some voters about his hopes for “next time.”

While fighting climate change was the main point of the QS platform, Nadeau-Dubois ended the campaign by focusing on controversial statements by Coalition Avenir Québec leader François Legault and his outgoing immigration minister Jean Boulet.

In the last week of the campaign, Legault told the Montreal Chamber of Commerce that raising immigration levels beyond 50,000 a year, as QS wanted to do, would be “suicidal” for Quebec. Boulet had said in a candidates’ debate on September 21 that “80 percent of immigrants go to Montreal, do not work, do not speak French or do not adhere to the values ​​of Quebec society.” Boulet apologized and said that he didn’t really believe what he had said. Legault, on the other hand, claimed that he was simply speaking to defend the French language.

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Nadeau-Dubois ended her campaign by vowing to stand up for those who felt disrespected by those comments, regardless of the mandate voters gave her.

QS candidates were either leading or declared elected in the same half-dozen elections that they won in the 2018 election.

in Mercier, incumbent Ruba Ghazal was elected, well ahead of her closest rivals, Liberal Catherine Boundjia and PQ Sabrina Mercier-Ullhorn. Ghazal had won nearly 55 percent of the votes cast in that race in 2018.

In Laurier Dorion, incumbent Andrès Fontecilla also posted a comfortable victory, ahead of Liberal Deepak Awasti and Vicki Marcoux of the CAQ, among others. Last time, Fontecilla obtained 47 percent of the votes in this riding.

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in rosemontincumbent Vincent Marissal moved ahead of CAQ’s Sandra O’Connor and PQ’s Pierre-Luc Brilliant.

In the meantime, in Mauritius-RichardQS’s Haroun Bouazzi was chosen ahead of CAQ’s Audrey Murray, while Liberal Jonathan Marleau came third. In 2018, that riding was Liberal, with Marie Montpetit, who did not ride this time.

Elsewhere, the north central Viau and Acadie rides seemed to go liberal again, as they did in 2018.

In Viau, incumbent Frantz Benjamin was ahead of QS’s Renée-Chantal Belinga, while CAQ’s Justine Savard was third. In 2018, Benjamin took this path with ease with 47 per cent of the votes cast, almost twice as many votes as his closest rival, Sylvain Lafrenière of QS.

in academyLiberal André A. Morin was well ahead of his closest competitor, QS’s Elyse Lévesque, who was nearly tied with CAQ’s Rosmeri Otoya Celis in the opening laps. Last time, Liberal Christine St-Pierre easily took this post with almost 54 percent of the votes cast.

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