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Liberals take slight lead in Quebec campaign
QUEBEC CITY, April 6 (Reuters) -- The Quebec Liberal Party under Jean Charest is widening its lead in the provincial election race, the latest polls say, but it still may not be enough to unseat the Parti Quebecois and its separatist agenda. Entering the final stages of the campaign for the April 14 vote, Charest, 44, was buoyed by his performance in last Monday's leaders debate and by surveys showing him ahead of Premier Bernard Landry, 66, and the Parti Quebecois. The Liberals had been running neck and neck with the Parti Quebecois, which is looking to form a third consecutive government in the French-speaking province of 7.3 million. But polls taken after the televised debate show the Liberals rising 3 points to hold 43 percent of voter support and the Parti Quebecois down a point at 39 percent. The right-of-centre Action Democratique, led by 32-year-old Mario Dumont is a distant third at 17 percent, but could divide the popular vote in favor of the Liberals. "I feel that we have been able to connect with the people after the debate. Mr. Landry is in panic mode and behaving like the leader of the opposition," Charest told reporters this week. "I am confident I will get a strong majority government on April 14," he said. But with Liberal support concentrated in Montreal and English-speaking regions of the province, analysts expect Charest will have to build a bigger lead over the more broadly based Parti Quebecois if it hopes to win. "The Liberals need a six- or seven-point lead over the Parti Quebecois if they want to form the government," pollster Claude Gauthier said. Surveys show Charest's party is currently 10 points behind the Parti Quebecois among French-speaking voters, who represent 80 percent of the population and determine which party will form the next government. With the new surge in Liberal support, some observers say Landry has been in damage-control mode all week. He distanced himself from controversial comments by Jacques Parizeau, Parti Quebecois premier from 1994 to 1996, who again blamed "money and the ethnic vote" for the narrow rejection of an October 1995 referendum on Quebec's separation from Canada. "It is skeletons from other people's closets that keep popping out to haunt Premier Bernard Landry during his election campaign," The Montreal Gazette daily said. But Landry promised renewed attacks against Charest's "catastrophic economic agenda." "I don't feel threatened (by Charest), but I have the duty of running a vigorous campaign," Landry said. Charest, who was leader of Canada's federal Conservative Party before jumping into Quebec's political scene in the spring of 1998, has been hammering all week that a vote for the Action Democratique is a vote for the Parti Quebecois. The aim is to win 20 key electoral districts from the Parti Quebecois and attract French-speaking voters from the weakening Action Democratique, who could prove to be the kingmakers on April 14. The Action Democratique has a fuzzy stance on Quebec independence but opposes any new referendum on separation, at least for now. Quebecers rejected independence in referendum votes in 1980 and 1995. Charest has also been pushing the view that the Parti Quebecois, after two terms in office, is old and tired. And, while it has been playing down its separatist roots to focus on social and economic platforms, its priority is to break up Canada, Charest charges. Recent polls have consistently showed that only a minority of Quebecers support separation, and few have much interest in a third referendum. The Liberal leader has also promised billions of dollars in tax cuts over the next five years and hundreds of millions more to be injected into the overstretched public health system. "People will have to decide on April 14 if they want a government for independence or a government for health," Charest said. Copyright 2003 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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