Premier-elect Philippe Couillard has led his party to victory just a year-and-a-half after the party was rejected at the ballot box.
After what many Quebecers felt was a harsh, mudslinging campaign, Couillard said it was time to bury hatchets and have all Quebecers work together.
"My friends, division is over, reconciliation has arrived," said Couillard.
"This is the beginning of prosperity and progress in Quebec," said Couillard. "Quebec now has priorities of openness and jobs."
The Liberal leader said his first priority was to work on the economy and improve the lot of all Quebecers, including anglophones, allophones, and First Nations.
"We share values of compassion and generosity with all citizens, with our anglophone brethren who also built Quebec with us, with Quebecers from all over the world who have joined us.
"I also want to mention our First Nations brothers and sisters. We will continue to build alliances and build for all Quebecers."
Time to look ahead
Former Quebec premier Daniel Johnson, who worked as a consultant for the Liberal campaign, told CTV Montreal that leader Philippe Couillard’s success was carefully planned.
"It’s in how Mr. Couillard prepared himself for this 33 day race in the weeks and months beforehand. He’s an exceptional human being, he’s our greatest asset," said Johnson.
"He had a plan to talk about jobs, the economy, health and education. This is what people wanted to hear about, not other party lines or platforms."
Johnson denied that there was any nervousness in Liberal ranks upon news of Francis Legault’s apparent late boost in support.
"I wasn’t nervous. I don’t think anyone was in the sense as there was some uncertainty as to what was going on between the PQ and the CAQ. We were solidly in the lower 40 percent in the polls. The CAQ and PQ were trading votes between themselves."
Peter Trent, the mayor of Westmount, said the election has been very volatile and it's time to calm down and hopefully put an end to mudslinging campaigns.
"Is this what we're going to see in the future, where personal attacks become the norm?" said Trent.
Meanwhile Andy Nulman, the president of Just For Laughs, said a Liberal win was not the time for winners to rub it in, and not to assume that people were choosing the Liberals as much as they were rejecting the PQ and the idea of separation.
"Those who say it's time to gloat are wrong," said Andy Nulman. "It's time to be respectful."
Charter is dead
During the election campaign Bernard Drainville repeatedly told voters to choose the PQ or say goodbye to the Charter of Values.
By electing a majority Liberal government, the voters of Quebec have chosen to reject the Charter.
Leger analyst Sebastien Dallaire said the PQ appears to have been led down the garden path by the appeal of the Charter.
"The Charter was kind of a false promise for the Parti Quebecois," said Dallaire.
"Even though they liked the idea, and a majority of Quebecers were in favour of it, it was not a priority."
Indeed many polls conducted concerning the Charter and electoral values over the past six months showed while support for the Charter of Values steadily increased, especially among francophone Quebecers, it was not considered important.
"This is where the Parti Quebecois probably lost the election," said Dallaire.
Former Liberal minister Christine St-Pierre agreed, saying a key moment was a debate she took part in during the final weeks of the campaign at Vanier College.
During that debate she challenged a PQ candidate, Evelyn Abitbol, about the Charter, and Abitbol said nurses and medical staff would lose their jobs "after one year."
That precipitated a sudden shift in polls and led Marois to proclaim a PQ government would use the notwithstanding clause to pass the Charter.
"The moment people in Quebec realized people would lose their jobs because of the Charter, they didn't want that," said St-Pierre.
"Maybe people in Quebec want to see rules, but they don't want to see people losing their jobs."
However analysts don't think the Liberals will be able to ignore the Charter or issues of reasonable accommodations of religious rules.
Mudslinging campaign
When the National Assembly was dissolved the Parti Quebecois had 54 seats, the Liberals had 49, the CAQ had 18, while Quebec Solidaire had 2 and there were two independents.
During the election campaign Liberal support showed steady growth, with polls indicating the party went from 35 to 40 percent support, mostly concentrated in the Montreal area.
But Couillard had to face numerous attacks in what was a dirty campaign, both for his personal actions and for many actions dredged up by the anti-corruption squad.
Among the dubious actions were Couillard's associations with Arthur Porter, the alleged fraudster who is in jail in Panama fighting extradition to face charges of criminal conspiracy.
Couillard also had to defend himself for placing $600,000 in an offshore account while he worked in Saudi Arabia, said he did his best to be positive.
Analyst Antonia Maioni said the Liberals won, but more importantly the PQ defeated themselves.
"The PQ ran a very bad campaign. They came out of the gate on the bad foot," said Maioni.
"On the other hand Mr Couillard has shown that he was able to capture the imagination of Quebecers. You don't get that far ahead just on a rejection of others."
"He went went into this campaign detemined to win and in effect he showed some of his good qualities. What I think he's done in Roberval shows that."
Couillard won his riding by about 6,000 votes -- in 2012 the riding went to the PQ by about the same margin.
In 2012, after nine years in government and months of near-daily protests from students upset by proposed tuition fee hikes and citizens outraged by emergency legislation limiting the right to protest, voters rejected the Liberals and gave the Parti Quebecois a minority government.
The election results of 2012 were not expected, with the Liberals winning 50 seats to the PQ's 54.
Jean Charest, who lost his own seat, resigned soon afterward, triggering a leadership race that went to Couillard.
Couillard, who resigned as an MNA in 2008 to resume private practice as a neurosurgeon and consultant, was only re-elected to the National Assembly on December 9, 2013, and only spent a few weeks participating in debates at the National Assembly before the election was called on March 5, 2014.
Is 2012 forgiven?
In 2012, after nine years in government and months of near-daily protests from students upset by proposed tuition fee hikes and citizens outraged by emergency legislation limiting the right to protest, voters rejected the Liberals and gave the Parti Quebecois a minority government.
The election results of 2012 were not expected, with the Liberals winning 50 seats to the PQ's 54.
Jean Charest, who lost his own seat, resigned soon afterward, triggering a leadership race that went to Couillard.
Couillard, who resigned as an MNA in 2008 to resume private practice as a neurosurgeon and consultant, was only re-elected to the National Assembly on December 9, 2013, and only spent a few weeks participating in debates at the National Assembly before the election was called on March 5, 2014.
