By Frederic Tomesco - 2012-09-05T04:24:48Z
Quebec’s separatists will return to power for the first time in nine years after winning a minority mandate that requires them to seek support from opposition parties to pass laws.
The Parti Quebecois under Pauline Marois was poised to win 54 of 125 electoral districts with 99 percent of polls reporting, according to results posted on the Elections Quebec website. The Liberal Party was winning in 50 districts, with the Coalition Avenir Quebec ahead in 19. Liberal Leader Jean Charest, who had been premier since 2003, failed to win re- election in his own district.
The result means Marois, the French-speaking province’s first female leader, probably won’t have a strong enough mandate to start Quebec toward another referendum on secession from Canada. Marois said last week it would be “very difficult” for her to advance the separatist agenda at the desired pace. Her party captured about 32 percent of the vote compared to 31 percent for the Liberals and 27 percent for the CAQ, according to Elections Quebec results.
The PQ received “only one-third of the vote and it’s going to be very tough for Ms. Marois to make any kind of headway on sovereignty,” Alain Gagnon, a political science professor at Universite du Quebec in Montreal, said in a telephone interview. “I don’t think one can imagine a referendum taking place during the first mandate.”
Quebec has twice voted in referendums against seceding from Canada, most recently in 1995. The sovereignty issue has lost momentum in recent years, with an Aug. 31 CROP Inc. poll showing support for sovereignty at 29 percent, while 68 percent opposed it.
[h=2]Quebec’s Choice[/h]“Quebeckers made their choice and we will respect this choice by governing with all elected members,” Marois told supporters in Montreal. “I am certain will be able to find the necessary compromises.”
Marois was rushed off stage by security during her remarks as televised images showed police detaining a person with what appeared to be a rifle outside the hall where she was speaking. Marois returned a few moments later asking for calm and for the crowd to leave calmly. Montreal Police reported on Twitter that two people had been injured and one arrested.
A Parti Quebecois government would call a referendum on independence “at the appropriate time,” according to the party’s electoral platform. Marois, 63, has refused to commit to holding a referendum in her first mandate, though she has said an independent Quebec is her ultimate goal.
[h=2]Little Reaction[/h]The Canadian dollar had little reaction to the vote. The currency erased losses of 0.2 percent after polls closed and was little changed at 98.60 cents per U.S. dollar at 11:38 a.m. in Tokyo. One Canadian dollar purchased $1.0143. The loonie, as the Canadian currency is sometimes known, was outperforming 13 of its 16 major counterparts in overnight trading.
“This is a pretty benign outcome,” Shaun Osborne, chief foreign exchange strategist at TD Securities, said by phone from Toronto. Currency traders “were probably correct to take a relaxed attitude toward this election. It should help to give the Canadian dollar a bit of a lift in the short run.”
Charest, who had been premier since 2003, was defeated in his electoral district. Other Liberal ministers who lost include Natural Resources Minister Clement Gignac, a former National Bank of Canada (NA) economist, and Alain Paquet, the province’s delegate finance minister.
“With Mr. Charest losing his seat, the Liberals will now become the PQ’s natural allies” in the legislature, Gagnon said. “They will need to rebuild and go through a leadership race. They are not going to try to bring the government down.”
[h=2]Tuition Increases[/h]Marois has vowed to cancel planned tuition increases that had sparked protests, and scrap a three-month-old law that restricted demonstrations. “Tuition fees will be the PQ’s first test,” Gagnon said. “They are going to need to find a compromise with the other parties.”
Marois last month pledged to balance the provincial budget by limiting program spending growth to 2.4 percent a year and by boosting revenue through increased mining royalties and higher taxes on wealthy individuals. The tax increases, aimed at residents who earn at least C$130,000, would bring in C$610 million annually, according to the party platform.
Government debt amounted to about 62 percent of Quebec’s 2011-12 gross domestic product, highest among Canada’s 10 provinces, according to an August report by Toronto-based credit-rating company DBRS Ltd. Quebec’s debt is rated A+ by Standard & Poor’s, Aa2 by Moody’s Investors Service and A (high) by DBRS.
[h=2]Greater Control[/h]Marois wants the government to assert greater control over Quebec’s economy, and came out against Mooresville, North Carolina-based Lowe’s Cos. (LOW)’s unsolicited bid for Rona Inc. (RON), the Quebec home-improvement retailer.
A Parti Quebecois government would wind down the C$4 billion Generations Fund -- currently managed by the Caisse de depot et Placement du Quebec -- and use the money to pay down the debt at the end of this year, according to its platform.
Marois wants Quebec to boost mining royalties because she argues the province doesn’t get enough from resource extraction. The PQ planned a 5 percent minimal royalty on the gross value of all mining output, in addition to a 30 percent tax on “super profits” from the extraction of non-renewable resources -- a royalty regime similar to that of Australia.
Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper issued a statement congratulating Marois on her victory. “We do not believe that Quebecers wish to revisit the old constitutional battles of the past,” Harper said in the statement posted on his website. “We believe that economic issues and jobs are also the priorities of the people of Quebec.”
Others echoed that sentiment. “The good thing for federalists is that Ms. Marois doesn’t have any kind of a majority,” Harold Chorney, a political science professor at Concordia University, said in a telephone interview from Montreal. “The sovereignty agenda has to be put on the back burner.”
To contact the reporter on this story: Frederic Tomesco in Montreal at [email protected]
To contact the editor responsible for this story: David Scanlan at [email protected]
Quebec’s separatists will return to power for the first time in nine years after winning a minority mandate that requires them to seek support from opposition parties to pass laws.
The Parti Quebecois under Pauline Marois was poised to win 54 of 125 electoral districts with 99 percent of polls reporting, according to results posted on the Elections Quebec website. The Liberal Party was winning in 50 districts, with the Coalition Avenir Quebec ahead in 19. Liberal Leader Jean Charest, who had been premier since 2003, failed to win re- election in his own district.
The result means Marois, the French-speaking province’s first female leader, probably won’t have a strong enough mandate to start Quebec toward another referendum on secession from Canada. Marois said last week it would be “very difficult” for her to advance the separatist agenda at the desired pace. Her party captured about 32 percent of the vote compared to 31 percent for the Liberals and 27 percent for the CAQ, according to Elections Quebec results.
The PQ received “only one-third of the vote and it’s going to be very tough for Ms. Marois to make any kind of headway on sovereignty,” Alain Gagnon, a political science professor at Universite du Quebec in Montreal, said in a telephone interview. “I don’t think one can imagine a referendum taking place during the first mandate.”
Quebec has twice voted in referendums against seceding from Canada, most recently in 1995. The sovereignty issue has lost momentum in recent years, with an Aug. 31 CROP Inc. poll showing support for sovereignty at 29 percent, while 68 percent opposed it.
[h=2]Quebec’s Choice[/h]“Quebeckers made their choice and we will respect this choice by governing with all elected members,” Marois told supporters in Montreal. “I am certain will be able to find the necessary compromises.”
Marois was rushed off stage by security during her remarks as televised images showed police detaining a person with what appeared to be a rifle outside the hall where she was speaking. Marois returned a few moments later asking for calm and for the crowd to leave calmly. Montreal Police reported on Twitter that two people had been injured and one arrested.
A Parti Quebecois government would call a referendum on independence “at the appropriate time,” according to the party’s electoral platform. Marois, 63, has refused to commit to holding a referendum in her first mandate, though she has said an independent Quebec is her ultimate goal.
[h=2]Little Reaction[/h]The Canadian dollar had little reaction to the vote. The currency erased losses of 0.2 percent after polls closed and was little changed at 98.60 cents per U.S. dollar at 11:38 a.m. in Tokyo. One Canadian dollar purchased $1.0143. The loonie, as the Canadian currency is sometimes known, was outperforming 13 of its 16 major counterparts in overnight trading.
“This is a pretty benign outcome,” Shaun Osborne, chief foreign exchange strategist at TD Securities, said by phone from Toronto. Currency traders “were probably correct to take a relaxed attitude toward this election. It should help to give the Canadian dollar a bit of a lift in the short run.”
Charest, who had been premier since 2003, was defeated in his electoral district. Other Liberal ministers who lost include Natural Resources Minister Clement Gignac, a former National Bank of Canada (NA) economist, and Alain Paquet, the province’s delegate finance minister.
“With Mr. Charest losing his seat, the Liberals will now become the PQ’s natural allies” in the legislature, Gagnon said. “They will need to rebuild and go through a leadership race. They are not going to try to bring the government down.”
[h=2]Tuition Increases[/h]Marois has vowed to cancel planned tuition increases that had sparked protests, and scrap a three-month-old law that restricted demonstrations. “Tuition fees will be the PQ’s first test,” Gagnon said. “They are going to need to find a compromise with the other parties.”
Marois last month pledged to balance the provincial budget by limiting program spending growth to 2.4 percent a year and by boosting revenue through increased mining royalties and higher taxes on wealthy individuals. The tax increases, aimed at residents who earn at least C$130,000, would bring in C$610 million annually, according to the party platform.
Government debt amounted to about 62 percent of Quebec’s 2011-12 gross domestic product, highest among Canada’s 10 provinces, according to an August report by Toronto-based credit-rating company DBRS Ltd. Quebec’s debt is rated A+ by Standard & Poor’s, Aa2 by Moody’s Investors Service and A (high) by DBRS.
[h=2]Greater Control[/h]Marois wants the government to assert greater control over Quebec’s economy, and came out against Mooresville, North Carolina-based Lowe’s Cos. (LOW)’s unsolicited bid for Rona Inc. (RON), the Quebec home-improvement retailer.
A Parti Quebecois government would wind down the C$4 billion Generations Fund -- currently managed by the Caisse de depot et Placement du Quebec -- and use the money to pay down the debt at the end of this year, according to its platform.
Marois wants Quebec to boost mining royalties because she argues the province doesn’t get enough from resource extraction. The PQ planned a 5 percent minimal royalty on the gross value of all mining output, in addition to a 30 percent tax on “super profits” from the extraction of non-renewable resources -- a royalty regime similar to that of Australia.
Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper issued a statement congratulating Marois on her victory. “We do not believe that Quebecers wish to revisit the old constitutional battles of the past,” Harper said in the statement posted on his website. “We believe that economic issues and jobs are also the priorities of the people of Quebec.”
Others echoed that sentiment. “The good thing for federalists is that Ms. Marois doesn’t have any kind of a majority,” Harold Chorney, a political science professor at Concordia University, said in a telephone interview from Montreal. “The sovereignty agenda has to be put on the back burner.”
To contact the reporter on this story: Frederic Tomesco in Montreal at [email protected]
To contact the editor responsible for this story: David Scanlan at [email protected]