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After dominating the Outaouais in the last provincial election, Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ) is projected to lose four of the seats it held in the region, giving way to the Quebec Liberals and the sovereigntist Parti Québécois.
CBC News is projecting the Quebec Liberal Party (PLQ) has won in Hull, Chapleau, Pontiac and Gatineau, while Parti Québecois (PQ) candidate Isabelle Millette is projected to win after a tight race in Papineau against the PLQ’s Isabelle Sabourin.
The PQ hasn’t held a seat in that riding since 1976.
Cheers erupted in the Thurso, Que., bar where Millette and her supporters watched CBC News project a PQ government. Later, after another media outlet declared her the winner in her riding, the room became flooded with blue light and people cheered, “Isa! Isa! Isa!”
Isabelle Millette celebrated with voters at watch party in a Thurso, Que. bar. (Ann-Sophie Gagné/Radio-Canada)Referendum not among ‘the real issues’: Fortin
In Pontiac, Liberal incumbent MNA André Fortin, who has held the seat since 2014, is expected to retain it, according to CBC News projections.
Fortin thanked a crowd of supporters at a community hall in Aylmer and celebrated the projected wins of fellow Liberals in neighbouring ridings, saying they worked to form a team.
“We need people who will fight for the Outaouais,” Fortin said in French. “The people of Outaouais said we want to concentrate on health care, education … the real issues that touch people’s everyday lives … they don’t want us to work on a referendum, and divisions.”
André Fortin pictured smiling the moment he was projected the winner of the Pontiac riding. (Matthew Kupfer/CBC)
Hull’s seat is expected to go Liberal Sacha Cannon, who also spoke out against a possible referendum.
“The PQ has not proposed anything especially concrete here in the region of the Outaouais. The only thing they are proposing that’s going to hurt us and our economy is a referendum,” he said, adding that the Liberal party would prioritize protecting public service jobs and boosting the economy.
In Gatineau, David Logue received 15,547 votes with the PQ’s Raphaël Déry following behind with 8,308.
In a social media post, Gatineau mayor Maude Marquis-Bissonnette congratulated Logue along with the other projected winners of the region. She extended her congratulations to Paul St-Pierre Plamondon on the PQ’s larger projected victory in the province.
“The Outaouais is just as precious to Quebec as Quebec is to the Outaouais,” she wrote in French. “We have much to build together, and I extend my hand with the desire to advance the issues that matter to our region.”
Chapleau’s projected winner Michel Langevin told reporters he was eager to get to work.
“To win tonight, it’s not only a win but it’s a bet that I took to give this region, Chapleau, a voice at the [National Assembly],” he said.
“We’ll see how the Parti Québecois will approach us, and we will try to figure out a way to work … to defend people [of] the Outaouais region in Quebec,” he added.
Millette said she is looking forward to working with the Liberal party.
“Their priorities are similar to ours,” she said. “Representing the Outaouais in the National Assembly. To make sure we’re not forgotten, we’re not abandoned. We are here.”
Pontiac, Gatineau and Hull were all projected within the first hour of polls closing. Chapleau followed in the next hour. Papineau remained too close to call until shortly after 11 p.m.