Vol. 71/No. 16      April 23, 2007

The ADQ finished second with 31 percent of the votes and 41 seats, compared to four in the previous election.

The Liberal Party of Quebec (PLQ) remains the ruling party but with only 33 percent of the votes and 48 seats, down from 76. It now ranks third among Quebecois.

The Parti Quebecois (PQ), a bourgeois nationalist party supporting Quebec sovereignty, finished third with 28 percent of the votes and 36 seats, down from 45.

Eighty percent of people in Quebec speak French and face institutionalized oppression on the basis of their language. The Quebecois have led sustained and at time massive struggles for their rights.

The results of the election mark a further fragmentation of Canadian politics, as contending capitalist forces are unable to offer a stable solution to the economic and social crisis. “Both Quebec and Canada have now reached a new summit of unpredictability,” said an editorial in the March 27 Montreal daily La Presse. In Quebec and on the federal level minority governments now rule.

ADQ leader Mario Dumont campaigned for limits to “accommodating” Muslims and Jews. His call for a Quebec constitution that would include “our national values” opened the road to a few small-town councils adopting anti-immigrant resolutions. The ADQ won all its seats outside Montreal, where most immigrants are concentrated. Its candidates campaigned against “big government,” proposing the abolition of all school boards.

The ADQ’s rise was fueled by the majority of people in Quebec rejecting the austerity policies implemented by the Liberal Party government, in particular attacks on social programs and broken promises to reduce taxes. Financial concessions to Quebec a week before the election by the Conservative government in Ottawa could not reverse the tide against the Liberals.

PQ support is at its lowest level since it first took power in 1976. Since then it has alternated in office with the Liberals, implementing similar programs on economic and social issues.

Since the 1995 referendum on Quebec sovereignty, which was lost with the slimmest of margins, the PQ has put sovereignty on the back burner, leading to growing cynicism among its supporters.

Despite the tight race among the three parties, turnout was the second lowest on record.

The rise of a right-wing party in Quebec and the decline of the Parti Quebecois are fueling speculations that the Conservative Party of Stephen Harper will rapidly try to provoke an election in the hope of winning a majority of seats in Ottawa. Conservatives made inroads in Quebec in the 2006 federal elections. They went from 0 to 10 seats, mostly in areas where the ADQ is now strong.  
 
 
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