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Not too much of a surprise, but a good day for the Conservatives and a bad day for the Liberals in Quebec.
Tories win Roberval-Lac-St-Jean
BRUCE CHEADLE
Canadian Press
September 17, 2007 at 10:43 PM EDT
OTTAWA — Prime Minister Stephen Harper's 18-month courtship of Quebec paid off richly Monday night when the Conservatives claimed a by-election win on separatist turf while watching a hand-picked Liberal star flame out in Montreal.
New Democrats won just their second seat ever in the province.
The outcome of the three Quebec by-elections — called by Mr. Harper while he left four other vacant federal seats unfilled elsewhere in the country — played out almost as well as the Tory prime minister could have hoped.
Conservative candidate Denis Lebel, the popular mayor of Roberval, dethroned the Bloc Québécois candidate in Roberval-Lac-St-Jean for the first time since the general election of 1988.
The Bloc maintained its long-held seat in St-Hyacinthe-Bagot, holding off a strong Tory challenge that relegated the Liberal candidate to single-digit support.
And in Outremont — a century old bastion of Montreal Liberalism — Liberal Leader Stephane Dion saw his hand-picked star candidate soundly trounced by the NDP's Thomas Mulcair, a former Quebec environment minister.
With well over half the polls reporting, Mr. Mulcair had almost doubled the vote count of Liberal candidate Jocelyn Coulon.
It was the first win in Quebec by the New Democrats since 1990 and just the second NDP MP ever elected in the province.
Outremont had fallen out of Liberal hands only once previously since 1935.
While nothing in the outcome of Monday's vote will change the balance of power in the minority parliament, the results were as deflating for the Liberals as they were energizing for the Conservatives and New Democrats, and promise to inject a fresh dynamic into the fall session of Parliament which begins with a throne speech on Oct. 16.
The Conservatives now hold 126 seats, the Liberals 96, the Bloc Québécois 49 and the New Democrats 30. Three seats are held by Independent MPs and four remain vacant.
Mr. Dion, already off to a low-profile start since being selected Liberal leader last December, faced immediate second-guessing from his Quebec wing.
One Liberal MP went out of his way to point out that the Liberals' current seat-count in Quebec — 12 — is the lowest since Confederation.
"There are going to have to be changes in the leader's entourage," said the Liberal MP.
"We can't go ahead like this into the next elections."
Another Liberal MP agreed that it's time for a few changes.
"This is a tough break," said Ottawa-area MP Mauril Belanger.
"But this could be good for us if it helps us make some adjustments in time for the next elections."
The military mission in Afghanistan, often cited as Mr. Harper's Achilles heel in Quebec, barely made the radar in any of the three by-election races — although Mr. Mulcair may have benefited in urban Montreal from the NDP's consistent message of immediate withdrawal.
The Conservative game plan was clear. By focusing on Quebec, Mr. Harper hoped to highlight ongoing Liberal woes in the province while giving a cautious road test to his own minority government's mid-term popularity.
Mr. Harper's heads-I-win, tails-you-lose political gambit paid immediate dividends when Mr. Lebel stormed to a quick lead he would not relinquish in the Saguenay region riding north of Quebec City.
With most of the polls reporting, Mr. Lebel had more than doubled the vote count of Bloc candidate Céline Houde.
The Tories won 10 seats in Quebec in the 2006 general election and considered Roberval the 11th that got away. No longer.
Tories win Roberval-Lac-St-Jean
BRUCE CHEADLE
Canadian Press
September 17, 2007 at 10:43 PM EDT
OTTAWA — Prime Minister Stephen Harper's 18-month courtship of Quebec paid off richly Monday night when the Conservatives claimed a by-election win on separatist turf while watching a hand-picked Liberal star flame out in Montreal.
New Democrats won just their second seat ever in the province.
The outcome of the three Quebec by-elections — called by Mr. Harper while he left four other vacant federal seats unfilled elsewhere in the country — played out almost as well as the Tory prime minister could have hoped.
Conservative candidate Denis Lebel, the popular mayor of Roberval, dethroned the Bloc Québécois candidate in Roberval-Lac-St-Jean for the first time since the general election of 1988.
The Bloc maintained its long-held seat in St-Hyacinthe-Bagot, holding off a strong Tory challenge that relegated the Liberal candidate to single-digit support.
And in Outremont — a century old bastion of Montreal Liberalism — Liberal Leader Stephane Dion saw his hand-picked star candidate soundly trounced by the NDP's Thomas Mulcair, a former Quebec environment minister.
With well over half the polls reporting, Mr. Mulcair had almost doubled the vote count of Liberal candidate Jocelyn Coulon.
It was the first win in Quebec by the New Democrats since 1990 and just the second NDP MP ever elected in the province.
Outremont had fallen out of Liberal hands only once previously since 1935.
While nothing in the outcome of Monday's vote will change the balance of power in the minority parliament, the results were as deflating for the Liberals as they were energizing for the Conservatives and New Democrats, and promise to inject a fresh dynamic into the fall session of Parliament which begins with a throne speech on Oct. 16.
The Conservatives now hold 126 seats, the Liberals 96, the Bloc Québécois 49 and the New Democrats 30. Three seats are held by Independent MPs and four remain vacant.
Mr. Dion, already off to a low-profile start since being selected Liberal leader last December, faced immediate second-guessing from his Quebec wing.
One Liberal MP went out of his way to point out that the Liberals' current seat-count in Quebec — 12 — is the lowest since Confederation.
"There are going to have to be changes in the leader's entourage," said the Liberal MP.
"We can't go ahead like this into the next elections."
Another Liberal MP agreed that it's time for a few changes.
"This is a tough break," said Ottawa-area MP Mauril Belanger.
"But this could be good for us if it helps us make some adjustments in time for the next elections."
The military mission in Afghanistan, often cited as Mr. Harper's Achilles heel in Quebec, barely made the radar in any of the three by-election races — although Mr. Mulcair may have benefited in urban Montreal from the NDP's consistent message of immediate withdrawal.
The Conservative game plan was clear. By focusing on Quebec, Mr. Harper hoped to highlight ongoing Liberal woes in the province while giving a cautious road test to his own minority government's mid-term popularity.
Mr. Harper's heads-I-win, tails-you-lose political gambit paid immediate dividends when Mr. Lebel stormed to a quick lead he would not relinquish in the Saguenay region riding north of Quebec City.
With most of the polls reporting, Mr. Lebel had more than doubled the vote count of Bloc candidate Céline Houde.
The Tories won 10 seats in Quebec in the 2006 general election and considered Roberval the 11th that got away. No longer.
