A lot on the line for the Coalition Avenir Québec
CBC's Alison Northcott on the steep path ahead for François Legault
The campaign officially kicked off morning, and I’ll be following the Coalition Avenir Québec as the third-place party tries to stay in the game.
CAQ leader François Legault knows his political future is riding on this election.
As he unveiled his campaign slogan (“On se donne Legault”) and bus Tuesday, his press release announced he is, “at the starting line for the battle of his life.”
Polls show the CAQ is going into the campaign with the support of fewer than 20 per cent of voters. This will be the second time the party will be put to the test in an election and, with the key battle expected to be between the Liberals and the Parti Québécois, Legault will have to find a way to make his mark.
As our CBC News/Ekos poll results suggested, the economy is the number one issue for most voters.
Legault, like the other leaders, wants to position himself as the one who can fix Quebec’s troubled economy and he is championing himself as the one to stand up for taxpayers and cut government spending.
There are some key ridings to watch for the CAQ – mostly in the Quebec City region and the northern suburbs of Montreal. Some of these were close calls with the PQ in 2012, where the CAQ just eked out a win.
Legault will encourage Quebec voters to choose his party, formed ahead of the 2012 election, over what he calls “the two old parties.”
But if they don’t, as he told radio host Benoit Dutrizac yesterday, “it’s over.”
Of course a lot can change in five weeks, and I’m looking forward to getting on the campaign bus and seeing how it all unfolds.
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