Legault predicts CAQ win in Liberal stronghold, trolls Orford candidate

Que. leaders make last pitch to voters Quebec party leaders spent the last five weeks crossing the province, and they made their final pitches Sunday

CAQ leader François Legault ventured into predictions in favour of his party on the last day of the election campaign, Sunday.

He hopes to win ridings in the hands of the Liberals, and the latest poll released on Sunday may give him hope.

However, he planned to spend some time in ridings that seem ready to go CAQ, such as Orford or Saint-François.

Visiting a public market in Magog, he told a citizen that his party can win the three-way race in Verdun, a Liberal stronghold that is in a three-way fight between the PLQ, the CAQ and QS.

"We can win this!" he said. "We're going to win, that's great!"

He also suggested that the fight is "tight" in Laporte, a riding in Monteregie that has always gone to the Liberals.

Before getting back on his campaign bus, he told his incumbent in Orford Gilles Bélanger that the Liberals are not even in the race in this riding, which was also held for a long time by the PLQ.

"The Liberals no longer have a chance (in Orford), she (the Liberal candidate) could support you," he said.

He was also referring ironically to the fact that the Liberal candidate, Vicki-May Hamm, had initially expressed interest in running under the CAQ banner.

Legault's day began in Montreal with a stop at a small restaurant in Maurice-Richard, a riding that was Liberal until Marie Montpetit's expulsion from the party caucus and that is coveted by the CAQ, but also by QS.

MORE WOMEN COULD CHANGE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY STYLE

Legault said that the style of the National Assembly will change if Quebecers elect more women on Monday.

He repeated that his party has 69 women candidates, the most of any party. This is not entirely accurate, as the Chief Electoral Officer of Quebec has indicated that Quebec solidaire has 70 candidates.

The composition of the next National Assembly could set a precedent as the most female parliament in Quebec's history.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published in French on Oct. 2, 2022.