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06-29-2006, 05:31 AM
(This post was last modified: 06-29-2006, 05:32 AM by Frost__2001.)
Que. Liberals lead PQ for first time since 2004
Updated Wed. Jun. 28 2006 6:21 AM ET
Le Canadian Press
MONTREAL -- Premier Jean Charest says he "felt great" when he woke up to a poll that put the provincial Liberals in front of the Parti Quebecois for the first time in more than two years.
But Charest doesn't appear to be in a hurry to call a provincial election. The premier noted on Tuesday that he has until as late as 2008 to call an election but he's expected to call an election next spring. A Leger Marketing poll said Charest's Liberals had 37 per cent support among those surveyed, compared to 33 per cent for Andre Boisclair's Parti Quebecois.
Charest normally doesn't comment on the results of poll and the "I felt great" comment was much more than he usually says.
Mario Dumont's Action democratique du Quebec had support of 17 per cent of those surveyed.
The fledgling party Quebec Solidaire had six per cent support.
The poll was published in Tuesday's edition of Le Journal de Montreal. It was taken over the St-Jean-Baptiste holiday weekend from June 22-25 and surveyed 1,000 people.
Charest boasted that Quebec "is certainly doing better".
"We've been redressing the situation here ... It's like taking a business that was in bad shape and putting it back together again."
Charest's party had not been leading among voters surveyed in a poll since April 2004.
However, when taken as representative of voter intentions across Quebec, the poll has a margin of error of 3.1 percentage points 19 times out of 20.
The margin of error means provincewide support for Charest's Liberals could be as low as 33.9 per cent or as high as 40.1, while the PQ support could be as high as 36.1 per cent or as low as 29.9.
Charest also noted the province's finances are in good shape and the increase in Quebec's credit rating is "extremely significant."
"It's the recognition of the efforts we've made over the last three years and it's going to save taxpayers millions of dollars in interest rates," he added.
Pollster Jean-Marc Leger called the results "a spectacular reversal" at the end of the recent legislative session during which Charest announced a carbon tax to support the Kyoto protocol and settled the longstanding pay equity issue for women in the public service.
"We could say that Quebecers finally have the impression that after three years in power, the Liberal Party of Quebec is ready and meeting its electoral slogan," he said.
Charest was elected in April 2003 and the party's slogan was, We're Ready.
Leger noted that Charest's positive relationship with Harper also helped.
But Charest was still the least popular of the leaders, with an approval rating of 35 per cent while Dumont had 46 per cent and Boisclair had 43 per cent.
When asked about his personal popularity, Charest said he would leave it to reporters to make the analysis.
Updated Wed. Jun. 28 2006 6:21 AM ET
Le Canadian Press
MONTREAL -- Premier Jean Charest says he "felt great" when he woke up to a poll that put the provincial Liberals in front of the Parti Quebecois for the first time in more than two years.
But Charest doesn't appear to be in a hurry to call a provincial election. The premier noted on Tuesday that he has until as late as 2008 to call an election but he's expected to call an election next spring. A Leger Marketing poll said Charest's Liberals had 37 per cent support among those surveyed, compared to 33 per cent for Andre Boisclair's Parti Quebecois.
Charest normally doesn't comment on the results of poll and the "I felt great" comment was much more than he usually says.
Mario Dumont's Action democratique du Quebec had support of 17 per cent of those surveyed.
The fledgling party Quebec Solidaire had six per cent support.
The poll was published in Tuesday's edition of Le Journal de Montreal. It was taken over the St-Jean-Baptiste holiday weekend from June 22-25 and surveyed 1,000 people.
Charest boasted that Quebec "is certainly doing better".
"We've been redressing the situation here ... It's like taking a business that was in bad shape and putting it back together again."
Charest's party had not been leading among voters surveyed in a poll since April 2004.
However, when taken as representative of voter intentions across Quebec, the poll has a margin of error of 3.1 percentage points 19 times out of 20.
The margin of error means provincewide support for Charest's Liberals could be as low as 33.9 per cent or as high as 40.1, while the PQ support could be as high as 36.1 per cent or as low as 29.9.
Charest also noted the province's finances are in good shape and the increase in Quebec's credit rating is "extremely significant."
"It's the recognition of the efforts we've made over the last three years and it's going to save taxpayers millions of dollars in interest rates," he added.
Pollster Jean-Marc Leger called the results "a spectacular reversal" at the end of the recent legislative session during which Charest announced a carbon tax to support the Kyoto protocol and settled the longstanding pay equity issue for women in the public service.
"We could say that Quebecers finally have the impression that after three years in power, the Liberal Party of Quebec is ready and meeting its electoral slogan," he said.
Charest was elected in April 2003 and the party's slogan was, We're Ready.
Leger noted that Charest's positive relationship with Harper also helped.
But Charest was still the least popular of the leaders, with an approval rating of 35 per cent while Dumont had 46 per cent and Boisclair had 43 per cent.
When asked about his personal popularity, Charest said he would leave it to reporters to make the analysis.
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