The Quebec Liberal Party is losing support from the anglophone community, according to a new poll. They’re still leading with 33 per cent overall, followed by 28 per cent for the Coalition Avenir Quebec (CAQ) and 21 per cent for the Parti Quebecois (PQ)
According to the polling company, it’s because of how the government has been handling issues at the McGill University Health Centre (MUHC).
READ MORE: CAQ passes Liberals as top choice of Quebec voters: poll
Quebec’s health minister said he doesn’t respond to polls. This latest one shows Montreal’s English-speaking community holds the minister in a particularly bad light when it comes to problems at the MUHC.
Last week, all 10 independent MUHC board members resigned, they say because a lack of dialogue with minister Gaétan Barrette over the last two years.
READ MORE: MUHC concerned about patient care if budget cuts continue
According to the new Mainstreet poll released Thursday, 55 per cent of non-francophones in the greater Montreal area disapprove of how Barette handled the MUHC, 67 per cent say care at the hospital has gotten worse and 54 per cent say budget cuts are to blame.
“Anglophones really are following the MUHC story closely,” said David Valentin, Mainstreet Research executive vice-president. “Anglophones are more decisive and more negative on every question than francophones.”
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The Liberals still have 47 per cent of the non-francophone vote and are still leading overall, but the CAQ is catching up, according to the poll’s authors.
“We are seeing what I call, a bit of flirting. It’s the second straight month that the CAQ has been in the low 20 per cent range and now it’s time to see if they’re actually able to hold on to that,” Valentin said.
Meanwhile, the poll numbers show Jean-Francois Lisee’s Parti Quebecois continues to decline and now stands only two points ahead of the third opposition party, Quebec Solidaire.
This latest poll shows that both historic political parties in Quebec are facing their own challenges. The CAQ is taking votes away from the Liberals and Quebec Solidaire is taking away votes from the Parti Quebecois. The question now is whether these trends will continue until next year’s election.
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