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By Allison Lampert
MONTREAL (Reuters) – Avenir Québec center-right coalition is about to win power for the first time in Canada's second-most populous province, according to Elections Quebec's first results Monday after Chief François Legault led a campaign promising the change of voters from the brakes to immigration.
The CAQ is expected to win the majority of seats in the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Quebec, a blow to the incumbent Liberals, who have been in power for 13 of the past 15 years, election officials said.
"My team and I can not wait to work for you," Legault said Monday night on Twitter.
The CAQ's planned victory would follow a right-hand turn in Ontario, where the Progressive Conservative government of Prime Minister Doug Ford came to power in June, ending a 15-year Liberal government in Canada's most populous province. including Toronto.
The CAQ has promised voters a change from the Liberals, who are not tied to the federal Liberals. Legault also campaigned on a controversial plan to take 10,000 fewer immigrants a year and expel new residents who fail to test French and Quebec values three years from now.
Elections Québec reported on its website that the CAQ was ahead of 75 of the province's 125 seats, with the Liberals in second place with 33 seats.
Elections in Quebec, home to the majority of Canada's influential dairy producers, took place when the Liberal government of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau decided to open the country's dairy industry in the United States, in the United States. concessions made in view of concluding a last-minute agreement. renegotiation of NAFTA.
Trudeau's Liberals, who are banking on Quebec's gains to make up for losses in the 2019 federal election, may find themselves in conflict with the CAQ over changes to the dairy protectionist system.
Legault had called the deal "disappointing" earlier Monday and said he would consider "all options" to defend the province's farmers.
Trade and the question of the number of foreigners to leave in the predominantly French-speaking province have eclipsed the arguments against separatism that have dominated Quebec politics in recent decades.
The pro-business CAQ is not expected to bring any major economic change from the Liberals, who have repaid their debts and presented balanced budgets, said Robert Kavcic, Senior Economist at BMO Capital Markets.
Quebec recorded an almost record unemployment rate and real gross domestic product growth in 2017, which beat 3% for the first time since 2000.
(Report by Allison Lampert in Montreal, edited by Sandra Maler and Lisa Shumaker)
