The provincial election campaign is now underway in Quebec, with the vote set for early October. According to CBC News, US politics is already a big factor in the race. On the first day of the campaign, there was consensus among the party leaders on the main theme, with one leader declaring that President Trump is his principal opponent and the one who is disturbing everything.
Heading into the election call, one party holds the advantage. CBC News reported that Paul St-Pierre Plamondon's separatist Parti Quebecois is leading in the polls. The party has promised that no referendum on independence would be held while Donald Trump is in office, and Plamondon is campaigning on a message of change.
That message of change is aimed at the record of the outgoing government. According to CBC News, Plamondon is running after two mandates of the Coalition Avenir Quebec under Francois Legault. Legault once had the most popular approval ratings of any premier, but his popularity plummeted after several missteps over his eight years in power.
Among those missteps, CBC News noted, were hundreds of millions of dollars invested in electric battery ventures, many of which are now in bankruptcy protection. The CAQ is now led by Christine Frechette, who is seeking to distance herself from Legault. Presenting herself as a new person leading a new party, her campaign signs read only Equipe Christine Frechette, without the CAQ name.
Other parties are staking out their own ground. According to CBC News, the Liberals' Charles Millard is highlighting his party's pro-Canada stance, saying it is the only federalist party in the campaign and that it believes in a strong Quebec within a strong Canada. With the Conservatives and Quebec solidaire also in the race, analysts say the result could be fragmented.
The outcome remains wide open. CBC News reported that a recent Leger poll found 44 per cent of respondents do not yet know how they will vote, which was described as almost half the electorate. With a 39-day campaign ahead, voters will have plenty of time to make up their minds before the early October vote.