Quebec election campaign officially underway, voting day set for October 3
The subpoena has expired and the election campaign in Quebec has officially started.
On Sunday morning, outgoing Prime Minister Francois Legault left a meeting with Lt.-Gov. J. Michel Doyon, with the Crown representative dissolved the legislature and called the general election.
With Election Day set to October 3, voters in Quebec will have to decide over the next five weeks whether to renew Legault’s mandate or send his party, the Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ), to the opposition.
For the time being, the latter is an unlikely scenario. The latest polls have the CAQ at the top of voter intent, and by a comfortable lead.
An Army poll published earlier this month found support for Legault’s party at 44 percent, compared with 18 percent for the Quebec Liberals in second place.
Quebec Solidaire and the Quebec Conservative Party achieved 15 and 13 percent respectively.
Quebec’s political parties have been in election mode for a few weeks now.
Campaign posters hung in many boroughs of Montreal on Saturday afternoon.
READ MORE: Far more women than men are no longer running in Quebec’s fall elections
On Saturday, Paul St-Pierre Plamondon, leader of the Parti Québécois, held an election kick-off in his Montreal with Camille-Laurin.
Quebec Solidaire announced on Saturday that it had selected all 125 candidates, including 70 women.
Quebec’s Liberal Party held a rally in Maurice on Saturday at which Liberal leader Dominique Anglade announced Carlos Leitao as the party’s campaign manager.
Leitao, the outgoing MNA for Robert-Baldwin’s riding, is no longer active.
When the legislature broke before the summer, Legault’s party had 76 seats, while the Quebec Liberals had 27, Quebec Solidaire 10 and the Parti Québécois seven.
The Quebec Conservative Party had one seat and there were four independents.
–With files from The Canadian Press
