It was a tough night for the Liberal Party in four by-elections across the province.
The CAQ won Arthabaska, the PQ held on to Marie-Victorin and St-Jerome and the Liberals did keep Verdun – but the results still show a slip in support for the party in power.
Analysts point to the drop in support for the Liberals in all four ridings, and a slip in particular with francophone voters.
CAQ Leader Francois Legault was a happy man; his candidate Erik Lefebvre won Arthabaska. It was a must-win seat for the party to avoid embarrassment and questions about its relevance.
“The spin in Arthabaska was that it would be a very close race between us and the Liberal Party. We got 44 per cent, they only got 27 per cent,” said Legault.
It was also a good night for Jean-Francois Lisée. Aside from the PQ win in St-Jerome, in Marie-Victorin 24-year-old Catherine Fournier easily won with more than 50 per cent of the vote, becoming the youngest woman ever elected to the National Assembly.
The other woman elected last night was Isabelle Melancon in Verdun, but it wasn't a landslide for the Liberal candidate.
“If we look at Verdun, if we look at Marie-Victorin - especially in these two places - we increased our result incredibly,” said Manon Massé of Quebec solidaire.
Lisée said if the PQ and Quebec solidaire had teamed up with a common candidate in Verdun, they would have won.
“The result in Verdun is clear. That was the Liberals to lose and the only reason Ms. Melancon was elected is because we were divided,” he said.
The premier is trying to focus on the government's economic record, even taking credit for "saving" Quebec.
“We were on the brink of disaster. The rating would have gone down, our borrowing costs would have gone up. We would have lost complete control of funding of health care and education and the economy,” he said.
Couillard downplayed the by-election results and the message it could be sending to his government.
“This is analysis. I'm not an analyst, I'm just a politician,” he said.
