Low voter turnout in Montreal's west end shows Anglo disillusionment with Liberals

The Quebec Liberal Party is being hit by a stark realization after suffering a major defeat in Monday's election: it may no longer be able to count on the anglophone vote.

While the Liberals carried the Anglo enclaves of western Montreal, voter turnout was down dramatically, and some constituents are saying the party didn't give them enough reason to cast a ballot.

It's a reality the party may have to reckon with as long as the threat of a referendum remains distant, as it was in the 2018 campaign: Coalition Avenir Québec, which will form a majority government, preached Quebec nationalism within Canada — and the Parti Québécois promised not to hold a referendum in its first mandate.

"I decided that I was voting really against the Liberals," said D'Arcy-McGee voter Jay Eidemiller.

She said that as she grows older, she's worried about access to high-quality health care.

So she voted for Québec Solidaire. Eidemiller said she was not expecting QS to form the government but wanted to support the growing leftist party — not seeing much difference among the platforms of the other three.

Only Québec Solidaire, which tripled its seat count but still fell short of reaching official party status, said it would work towards a referendum on sovereignty if it formed government.

"I didn't see separation as a big deal this time," Eidemiller concluded.

Turnout in 2 ridings below 50 per cent

While overall turnout was down compared to 2014, initial results suggest the participation rate was even lower in western Montreal ridings that have long been Liberal strongholds — below 50 per cent in both D'Arcy-McGee and Westmount–Saint-Louis.

Even so, the Liberals were never in danger of losing those seats.

In D'Arcy-McGee, Liberal candidate David Birnbaum was re-elected with 74.4 per cent of the vote, while QS's Jean-Claude Kumuyange was a distant second with just 7.2 per cent.

The result was similar in Westmount–Saint-Louis, where Jennifer Maccarone won 66.7 per cent of the vote, followed by Ekaterina Piskunova from Québec Solidaire with 10.3 per cent.

Terry Tull said that she's feeling fatigued by politics because of events south of the border.

Another D'Arcy-McGee constituent, she did not vote in the election.

"I find that with the politics and what's going on in the States, I'm physically exhausted by the lies and corruption," she said, adding that she's seeing the same thing make its way into Canadian politics.

"I really am not interested this year. We'll see what happens next year," she said.

Voices unheard?

Theodore Klein said he's disappointed by the low turnout in D'Arcy-McGee and across the West Island.

"I think it's sad," he said. "I think people don't realize how much power [the political parties] have over their lives, over how government is run."

Watching the debates, he said, it didn't seem as if there was much of a difference in how the parties would treat the province's anglophones.

"People don't think their voices would be heard," he said.

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• For all CBC's 2018 election coverage, go to Quebec Votes 2018

Dollard-des-Ormeaux resident Jacques Boucher voted Liberal, only because as a federalist he felt he had no other option.

"I voted Liberal holding my nose," he said.

"I'd rather live with the devil I know than the god that I don't."

He says he was surprised that the CAQ won more than enough seats to form a majority government.

With files from CBC reporter Kate McKenna