CAQ leads in Quebec voting intentions, PQ trails behind: Leger poll

Quebec Premier Francois Legault speaks as the National Assembly sits for its 43rd Legislature, Tuesday, November 29, 2022 in Quebec City. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jacques Boissinot

François Legault's Coalition avenir Québec (CAQ) still leads in voting intentions, while the Parti québécois (PQ) consolidates its second place, suggests a new Léger poll.

The poll was conducted online among 1,042 Quebecers from June 9 to 12. It gives 37 per cent of voting intentions to the CAQ, 23 per cent to the PQ, 16 per cent to Québec solidaire, 13 per cent to the Liberal Party and nine per cent to the Conservative Party.

For the second month in a row, Paul St-Pierre Plamondon's PQ even came out on top in the Quebec City region. The sovereigntist party has just three MNAs in the National Assembly.

Asked on Wednesday about the PQ's rise, Legault recalled that he had taken "important steps to protect French, including requiring new immigrants to speak French."

"What I understand from the poll is that we have the support of a good part of Quebecers. We're still in first place, but we have to remain humble. You never win anything in politics. You have to keep working," he said.

Legault also took the liberty of firing an arrow at St-Pierre Plamondon's PQ, which, in his opinion, is taking far too long to draw up the promised year-one budget.

The year-one budget is an exercise that has been done a few times in the history of the PQ to define the financial framework of an eventual sovereign Quebec.

Ironically, Legault, when he was a PQ MNA, proposed a year-one budget in May 2005.

Back then, Quebec received $4 billion a year in equalization payments from the federal government, compared to the $13 billion it receives today, which would be more difficult to do without, as the premier notes.

"Last year's budget, how long did it take you to draw it up?" asked a journalist on Wednesday. "Less than the PQ," scoffed Legault.

At the CAQ convention in Sherbrooke, Que. last month, Legault bypassed Québec solidaire and the Liberal Party to suddenly redirect his attacks on the PQ.

He appealed to nationalists tempted to return to the PQ, telling them that Quebec couldn't afford to wait for the "Grand Soir de la souveraineté."

"The problem with the PQ is that it's betting everything on the Grand Soir … but we have to act now," he insisted.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published in French on June 14, 2023.