Quebec parties scurry to prepare for elections, possibly in mid-April

QUEBEC CITY – Elections are over in Maine and a new state government is being installed. But across the border in Quebec, political parties are just preparing now for a possible mid-April election.

The parties in Quebec are nominating candidates at a brisk pace as they wait for Premier Bernard Landry to launch what is looming as a tight three-way race.

The Parti Quebecois government might be tempted to capitalize on a recent batch of promising poll numbers to try to win a third-straight mandate.

Written off as dead just months ago, Landry’s party now seems ready for battle with the Opposition Liberals and the Action Democratique du Quebec. Recent polls suggested the parties were running neck and neck in popular support.

Landry has until the end of the year to hold a vote, since the PQ was re-elected Nov. 30, 1998. However, the premier has told his troops to be ready for a campaign as early as March.

“We’re doing everything to be ready for March,” said PQ director general Martin Dube. “I’m working with our team so that the gun goes off the moment Mr. Landry pushes the button.”

Even Landry’s opponents are betting on an April election.

“We’re in pre-campaign mode,” said Guy Therrien, a spokesman for the ADQ. “We’re working with the scenario of two intense months of work, with an election call in March and a vote in April.”

Liberal Leader Jean Charest also called an April election “the most probable scenario.”

Several signs point to an election call in early March, followed by a mandatory five-week campaign that would culminate in a mid-April election.

First, recent polls have pointed to an increase in support for the PQ. Second, the premier has said he’ll table a budget before the election – and has mused about convening the Legislature earlier than its scheduled March 11 opening date.

Also, a PQ convention in Montreal from March 7 to 9 would be an ideal launching pad for the government’s campaign.

The PQ will already have a pre-campaign bus on the road in three weeks, as party officials tour Quebec to raise money and whip up support leading up to election, the French-language CBC reported Friday.

If successful, the PQ would become the first Quebec government in nearly half a century to win a third-straight mandate.

The government seemed doomed through most of 2002, when it was running last in a series of polls behind the then-surging ADQ, which was coming off a series of by-election victories.

However, the latest polls indicated the Liberals and PQ had won back some of their traditional supporters who were tempted by the ADQ. Now it looks like anyone’s game, as the three major parties line up their slate of 125 candidates.