Liberals down to 1 seat in western Quebec as CAQ enjoys near-sweep

The majority-winning Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ) picked up an extra seat in the Outaouais, dropping the Quebec Liberal Party down to only one seat in the region during Monday's night's provincial election.

Going into the election, the CAQ held three of five western Quebec seats, with the Liberals occupying the other two. They were all Liberal before 2018's vote.

Now the CAQ holds four of those five seats, with incumbent André Fortin laying claim to the only regional seat still belonging to the provincial Liberals.

"It means that they're going to have somebody who will always think about doing things differently," Fortin said after he was declared the victor in Pontiac.

"Every time the government comes with their one-size-fits-all approach, there will be somebody to stand against that," Fortin said of his newfound status as regional Liberal outlier.

By the time Fortin spoke — about an hour and a half after the polls closed — three other races in the region had been decided in favour of CAQ candidates: Mathieu Lacombe in Papineau, Mathieu Lévesque in Chapleau and Robert Bussière in Gatineau all won with commanding leads over their nearest competitors.

Like Fortin, all were incumbent members of Quebec's national assembly.

Candidate dedicates win to mom

Still, Fortin was hopeful his Liberal running mate and another incumbent, Maryse Gaudreault in Hull, would help the party maintain its share of Outaouais seats.

It didn't pan out that way.

Although the race in Hull was quite close for some of the night, the CAQ's Suzanne Tremblay ultimately won out over Gaudreault.

The Quebec Liberal Party had held the seat since 1981.

In her victory speech, Tremblay dedicated her successful campaign to her mother — "who made me the woman I am today," Tremblay said in French.

Tremblay wasn't the only winning CAQ candidate to lean on family during election day.

Lacombe — who served as the minister of families before the election — tweeted a video of his son offering him good luck as voters went to the polls.

"We're going to continue to work for the citizens, but we're going to continue to have fun, too," Lacombe said in French after his victory in Papineau.

"To be re-elected like this I think even feels better than in 2018."

'The work begins tonight' 

Bussière, whose Gatineau district is the largest in the region, said he's looking forward to completing projects that were begun or announced during the CAQ's first four years in power.

Among those projects is a promised new hospital in Gatineau.

"It's an enormous territory. I like to be present everywhere," Bussière said in French, adding that he still enjoys the experience of knocking on doors.

Mathieu Lévesque, the CAQ's incumbent MNA in the electoral district of Chapleau, was the first western Quebec candidate to learn he had reclaimed his seat on Monday.

"I thank the voters tonight. It's an honour to represent them," Lévesque said in French amid the clamour of celebrating party supporters. "The work begins tonight."

Asked about the CAQ's decisive majority government, Lévesque said, "I'm without words."