‘Distortion’: Quebec opposition parties call for electoral reform after vote results

Quebec opposition parties are calling for electoral reform after they won more votes in Monday’s election than the Liberals but received significantly fewer seats.

Quebec opposition parties are calling for electoral reform after they won more votes in Monday’s election than the Liberals but received significantly fewer seats.

The Coalition Avenir Québec was re-elected, winning 90 of the 125 seats in the province’s legislature, with 41 per cent of the popular vote. The Liberals retained official Opposition status and won 21 ridings with about 14 per cent of the vote. 

Third-place Québec solidaire, meanwhile, won 11 seats — but the party collected about 43,270 more votes than the Liberals. The Parti Québécois, with three seats, won about 9,420 more votes than the Liberals.

“The disproportion between the popular vote and the number of seats is historic and it is very problematic for democracy in Quebec,” PQ Leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon told reporters Tuesday in Boucherville, Que., near Montreal. 

At the Quebec legislature, parties receive funding based on the number of seats they win. But St-Pierre Plamondon said CAQ Leader François Legault and Liberal Leader Dominique Anglade should agree to instead fund his party based on its share of the popular vote.

“I appeal to them to see this injustice and not make it worse, to allow every voice that expressed itself through universal suffrage to have an operating budget, to have an equal place … on the basis of the result of universal suffrage and not on the basis of a distortion that we can qualify as historic,” he said.  

During his concession speech Monday night, Québec solidaire spokesman Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois also called for electoral reform.

“Our political system is broken, our democracy is sick and the electoral map tonight does not reflect the political will of Quebecers,” Nadeau-Dubois said. “François Legault has to recognize the problem.”

The Conservative Party of Quebec received nearly 13 per cent of the vote but no seats. During his speech to supporters on Monday, party leader Éric Duhaime also described the results as a “distortion.” 

In the Halifax area on Tuesday, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was asked whether he thought Monday’s results in Quebec reflected the will of the people. In response, Trudeau said Canada’s democracy is strong compared to many places around the world.

“There are always discussions that we can have about how we can increase the participation rate and reduce the cynicism that people have toward politics, but we see as well that millions of people contributed and want to have their say on the future of their province, their country, and it’s a good thing,” he told reporters.

Premier-designate Legault is scheduled to speak with reporters near Quebec City on Tuesday afternoon. 

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 4, 2022.

Jacob Serebrin, The Canadian Press