Quebec Election Day 24: new poll shows CAQ ahead, but suggests support for opposition parties split

A new Léger poll suggests support for Quebec’s four major opposition parties is virtually evenly split, with all of them well behind the governing Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ).

The online poll of 1,046 Quebec adults conducted Sept. 16-18 by Léger Marketing for the Journal de Montréal and TVA, published Tuesday, puts support for the CAQ at 38 per cent.

The Liberal Party, Québec Solidaire (QS) and the Conservative Party (PCQ) are tied at 16 per cent of voting intentions – with the Parti Québécois (PQ) at 13 per cent.

Liberal Leader Dominique Anglade said in a radio interview this morning that the poll shows that 62 per cent of Quebecers don’t want the CAQ to be re-elected, and she says voters should rally behind her party. She said “we have to wake up,” adding that “we need to get together to block François Legault.”

Conservative Leader Éric Duhaime says he thinks the polls may underestimate support for his party and that the real test will be who can get out the vote.

The poll doesn’t have a margin of error because respondents were not selected randomly.

Coalition Avenir Québec Leader François Legault is visiting a riding in Quebec’s Eastern Townships where his candidate was allegedly threatened.

The incumbent premier is starting the day in the Orford riding, where CAQ candidate Gilles Bélanger recently moved his children and partner out of the family home.

On veut simplifier la vie des parents avec un nouvel outil.

????Suivez-nous en direct!???? https://t.co/HMDpncVHEE

— François Legault (@francoislegault) September 20, 2022

Legault presented a new promise in education this morning that aims to simplify the life of parents, the Clic École portal – to pool digital services in education.

The party’s press release explains that, on one platform, regardless of the school, parents will be able to input absences or any delays for their children, consult the school calendar, access official documents and communicate with the school.

The CAQ would invest $4 million to create the Clic École portal, to be used by public and private primary and secondary schools.

Legault is also scheduled to visit the Richmond and Mégantic ridings today, both of which are solidly in the CAQ camp, according to polls.

(CREDIT: Pamela Pagano/CityNews)

Québec solidaire co-spokesperson Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois was campaigning in Montreal and promising to reduce public transit fares by 50 per cent throughout the province if his party is elected.

At a press conference in the riding of Viau, in Saint-Michel, he said that transit companies would be compensated 100 per cent for the resulting loss of revenue.

The measure would be applied gradually: a 20 per cent reduction in 2023-2024, then 10 points more per year until the 50 per cent threshold is reached in 2026-2027.

The party estimates that for a person living in Longueuil and working in Montreal, the savings would eventually reach $900 per year.

Point de presse : nos engagements en matière de justice https://t.co/rhLhS07kpC

— Eric Duhaime (@E_Duhaime) September 20, 2022

Éric Duhaime, Conservative Party of Quebec Leader, was in Saint-Georges, in the Beauce, presenting his electoral platform on justice.

Previously he announced adopting a public registry of sexual predators in the first year of a Conservative mandate and hiring 400 additional police officers for the City of Montreal.

He also detailed adopting a Quebec charter of victims’ rights, to be enshrined in law, and investing in services for violent men by creating a network of therapy centers for them.

Parti Québécois leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon unveiled his plan to improve French language skills in the province if he becomes premier at a press conference in Tadoussac this morning.

He wants to launch a major effort to improve the written, reading and communication skills of citizens.

He hopes to reduce the illiteracy rate by 50 per cent by 2030.

Thus, he intends to develop a national strategy to fight illiteracy. This would include financial compensation for people who engage in a literacy process, the addition of professional resources in primary and secondary schools, an awareness campaign on the issue of illiteracy at a cost of $460 million per year to fund organizations working in adult literacy.

St-Pierre Plamondon said 19 per cent of Quebecers between the ages of 16 and 65 are illiterate and 34.3 per cent have serious reading difficulties.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 20, 2022.