Quebec Liberals fight for stronghold ridings in provincial byelections

MONTREAL - The Parti Quebecois planted its flag Monday night in territory held for nearly a half-century by the provincial Liberals, winning a hotly contested byelection in Argenteuil riding north of Montreal from a government beset by social unrest and ethical scandals.

PQ candidate Roland Richer, a 71-year-old retired teacher and school principal, took the riding in a nail-biter of a finish by 501 votes. The Liberals won the other byelection, in Montreal-area Lafontaine riding.

An upbeat Premier Jean Charest addressed cheering supporters in the riding late Monday, calling the byelections a day for democracy in Quebec and saying he accepted the results. However, he described the result in Argenteuil as a "postponement."

He remained philosophical about the results in interviews later with reporters, saying defeated candidate Lise Proulx had been a strong candidate for the byelection and would be one whenever a general election is called.

"We're going to look at the results," Charest said of the Argenteuil outcome. "It was a close result. It's not a result that says there was total domination. On the contrary, the election result was very close."

While he said he didn't underestimate any of his rivals, Charest dismissed Francois Legault, leader of the Coaltion For Quebec's Future and a former PQ cabinet minister, as a "sovereigntist" although the Coalition whittled away at some of the Liberal support in Argenteuil.

"Each byelection teaches us something," Charest said. "At the same time, tonight we split the results. The score was very close. We'll analyze the results but the score we had tonight was respectable."

Asked if he felt the ongoing student crisis had an effect on the results, Charest stood by his handling of the tuition fee dispute.

"We have done everything humanly possible," he said, pointing PQ Leader Pauline Marois had been a strong supporter of the students.

Argenteuil had been Liberal since 1966. It had once been the fiefdom of Claude Ryan, the stern intellectual who led the party during the 1980 Quebec referendum won by the federalists.

The news wasn't all bad for the Liberals, who managed to hang on to Montreal-area Lafontaine riding which had been held by former cabinet minister Tony Tomassi, who resigned under a cloud.

Marc Tanguay, the party's president, held the riding although with a reduced majority that the 10,181 votes Tomassi nabbed in the 2008 general election.

Charest called the byelections after months of unrest in the province due to student protests over tuition fees which have occasionally turned violent.

Nightly demonstrations by protesters have been held in several Quebec cities and people have taken to banging pots and pans not only in support of the students but against a law passed by Charest's government that puts tighter limits on demonstrations.

The protest has gotten international attention and draw complaints about Charest's handling of it.

As well, an inquiry into construction industry corruption and the awarding of public contracts, which Charest resisted calling for almost two years before yielding to public pressure, has also just gotten underway. That has also been a hot-button issue for the government.

The Liberals had started with a decent lead in Argenteuil although the PQ crept up during the evening before passing them in an abrupt turnaround.

The PQ had targeted Argenteuil and Leader Pauline Marois had campaigned in the area several times, visiting the last time on Saturday. Charest was there on Friday to back Proulx.

The office of Quebec's chief returning officer put voter turnout in Argenteuil at about 25 per cent. There are a total of 41,000 voters in the riding, 83 per cent of whom are francophones.

The riding had been held by David Whissell, who quit Charest's cabinet to devote more time to his construction business.

Lafontaine became vacant earlier this year after the resignation of Tomassi, who quit his seat in the legislature to fight fraud and breach of trust charges.

Tomassi, who was once Charest's family minister, left the Liberal party and caucus in 2010 after allegations of improper use of a credit card issued by a private company to him while he was a member of the legislature.

Tanguay briefly addressed cheering supporters late in the evening as he accepted his victory.

"Thank you for your confidence," he said in French before expressing his gratitude in English and Italian.