Quebecers headed to the polls yesterday to pick the Francophone province’s next government after a campaign overshadowed by a major political crisis in Ottawa’s federal parliament.
The crisis, among the worst in Canadian history, was triggered after the opposition parties sought to overthrow the minority Conservative government of Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper and replace it with a coalition.
Harper secured a victory when he obtained a shutdown of parliament and thus blocked the opposition’s bid to overtake him less than two months after his reelection. But the opposition has vowed to beat the drums of battle once again when parliament meets in late January.
Polls have shown the national crisis benefited Jean Charest, Quebec’s outgoing liberal premier.
Charest, who currently leads a minority government, called for snap elections yesterday, saying he needed a firm mandate to lead the province through a period of economic instability.
“The crisis in Ottawa gave him ammunition,” said Claude Gauthier, vice-president of the polling institute CROP. “Charest has stressed the importance of having a strong and stable government that can face up to these economic times. People buy into that.”
Polls published on Friday and Sunday indicated that Charest could regain a majority in the provincial assembly.
His Liberal Party enjoys an average 15 percent lead over the separatist Parti Quebecois (PQ), still reeling from a crushing defeat during the last elections in March last year. Polls show the Liberals at 45 percent support compared to between 29 percent and 32 percent for the PQ. The right-leaning Action Democratique du Quebec lags behind with between 12 percent and 15 percent.
For the first time in nearly 40 years, Quebec’s independence was not a campaign in a province where the survival of a distinct French identity in North America remains a major concern. PQ leader Pauline Marois said she would not seek a referendum for the province of 7.5 million to break away from the rest of the country. With the effects of the global financial crisis taking hold on Canada, the economy was front and center. Charest traveled across the province on an “economy first” slogan that captured voters’ attention and support.
If Charest, 50 and in power since 2003, were to hold on to his seat yesterday, he would become Quebec’s first premier to win three consecutive elections in over 50 years.
A small leftist coalition, Quebec Solidaire, may also elect its first deputy to the provincial parliament.
A fire caused by a burst gas pipe yesterday spread to several homes and sent a fireball soaring into the sky outside Malaysia’s largest city, injuring more than 100 people. The towering inferno near a gas station in Putra Heights outside Kuala Lumpur was visible for kilometers and lasted for several hours. It happened during a public holiday as Muslims, who are the majority in Malaysia, celebrate the second day of Eid al-Fitr. National oil company Petronas said the fire started at one of its gas pipelines at 8:10am and the affected pipeline was later isolated. Disaster management officials said shutting the
DITCH TACTICS: Kenyan officers were on their way to rescue Haitian police stuck in a ditch suspected to have been deliberately dug by Haitian gang members A Kenyan policeman deployed in Haiti has gone missing after violent gangs attacked a group of officers on a rescue mission, a UN-backed multinational security mission said in a statement yesterday. The Kenyan officers on Tuesday were on their way to rescue Haitian police stuck in a ditch “suspected to have been deliberately dug by gangs,” the statement said, adding that “specialized teams have been deployed” to search for the missing officer. Local media outlets in Haiti reported that the officer had been killed and videos of a lifeless man clothed in Kenyan uniform were shared on social media. Gang violence has left
US Vice President J.D. Vance on Friday accused Denmark of not having done enough to protect Greenland, when he visited the strategically placed and resource-rich Danish territory coveted by US President Donald Trump. Vance made his comment during a trip to the Pituffik Space Base in northwestern Greenland, a visit viewed by Copenhagen and Nuuk as a provocation. “Our message to Denmark is very simple: You have not done a good job by the people of Greenland,” Vance told a news conference. “You have under-invested in the people of Greenland, and you have under-invested in the security architecture of this
Japan unveiled a plan on Thursday to evacuate around 120,000 residents and tourists from its southern islets near Taiwan within six days in the event of an “emergency”. The plan was put together as “the security situation surrounding our nation grows severe” and with an “emergency” in mind, the government’s crisis management office said. Exactly what that emergency might be was left unspecified in the plan but it envisages the evacuation of around 120,000 people in five Japanese islets close to Taiwan. China claims Taiwan as part of its territory and has stepped up military pressure in recent years, including
RSS