Action democratique du Quebec Leader Mario Dumont came under fire from his Parti Quebecois and Liberal rivals after a new poll showed his party with a big lead in the Quebec City area.
The survey, by polling firm CROP, shows the ADQ has 40 per cent support among voters in the region. The Parti Qu�b�cois held 26 per cent support and the Liberals had 24 per cent.
The survey, conducted for the French-language dailies Le Soleil and La Presse, shows a 10-point gain by the ADQ when compared to a similar poll from late February.
The poll was conducted in 12 Quebec City area ridings. The Liberals currently hold nine seats of the 12, the PQ one and the ADQ two.
If the support for the ADQ remains, they could take at least 10 out of the 12 seats.
Campaigning north of Montreal, PQ Leader Andre Boisclair said life on "planet ADQ" would only be better for the rich.
"... The poorest, they're cast off to the side. There's not a lot of Quebecers who want to live there."
Dumont thinks 25,000 able-bodied welfare recipients should be able to get jobs, something that would save the province $175 million.
Boisclair called Dumont a disciple of Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper, whose federal party did relatively well in the Quebec City area in the 2006 federal election.
Premier Jean Charest, the Liberals' leader, warned that an ADQ government would mean major service reductions.
"We're talking about cuts in health and cuts in education," he said in the Quebec City area. "It's unavoidable."
However, he found himself on the defensive for his promise to cut taxes by $700 million after receiving an estimated $2.3 billion from the federal government in Monday's budget.
Charest denied he was trying to buy votes. "Quebec's middle class deserves to have a tax reduction," he told reporters.
ADQ aims for breakthrough
The ADQ is aiming for more than 15 seats in the upcoming election, a triple increase from their current five seats.
Going into the election, the ADQ did not have official party status in the 125-member national assembly. They now threaten to hold the balance of power if a minority government is created.
Of those polled, 68 per cent said their vote for the ADQ was definitive.
The success is being fuelled by a loss in the popularity of Charest's Liberals. PQ support in the region has essentially remained the same as Boisclair has endured criticism for failing to connect with sovereigntists.
The majority of those polled said that they felt the Liberals would form the next government and that Charest was best suited for the job.
In the final days of his campaign, Charest is focusing on key ridings that, if lost, could threaten a Liberal majority.
A survey conducted last week by Strategic Council for The Globe and Mail and CTV suggested 32 per cent of respondents supported the Parti Quebecois, 30 per cent favoured the governing Liberals and 26 per cent backed the ADQ.
The CROP poll was conducted between March 15-18 and surveyed 501 voters. It is accurate within four percentage points 19 times out of 20.
With a report from CTV Montreal's John Grant
