Posted on 09/04/2012 10:03:33 PM PDT by Hunton Peck
Parti Québécois Leader Pauline Marois was rushed off the stage during her victory speech after a starter pistol was fired, prompting a quick response form security officials.
She returned a few minutes later and urged supporters who packed Montreal's Metropolis concert hall to leave camly.
"There was a little unfortunate incident," she said.
Montreal police could be seen taking a man into custody outside the building.
After battling back from inner party turmoil and record lows in party support, Pauline Marois and the Parti Québécois have claimed victory over the incumbent Liberals. The PQ will return to power with a minority government after almost a decade in opposition.
Marois, 63, will now become the province's first female premier.
Before the incident, Marois took the podium as the gleeful crowd burst into a round of Gens du Pays, a nationalist anthem, Marois told all Quebecers she was hopeful they could put aside their differences for a united Quebec.
"Voters have made a choice and we will respect it, and we will govern with all other parties at the national assembly," she told the packed room at Montreal's Metropolis concert hall.
"We are all there to serve Quebecers. And I'm sure we will be able to find the right compromises. It's time to regain confidence to make the right decisions."
In English, Marois told anglophone Quebecers that their rights would be respected.
"We share the same history, and I want us to shape together our future," she said.
While the minority win falls short of the majority the PQ made a heavy pitch for, it marks a significant loss for the Liberals, who, after nine years in power, gambled on a summer election a year before the end of their mandate.
Long-time premier Jean Charest lost his bet that student turmoil and a soft economy would be enough to push voters to support a Liberal government for a fourth term.
if Ouebec left Canada you would see the end of third world immigration into the province. The USA might have a chance to capture some, or all of the eastern provinces. Alberta might jouin the USA. Many interesting things could come from this.
Joining the US would have been a lot more likely in 95, when the loonie was worth $0.60 American. Give this country a couple more election cycles to fragment and deteriorate and impoverish itself, and it’ll be US going to Canada cap in hand.
I hear you. Canada has done a very good job with its banking system & is in a better place now than it was in the 90s. I guess no one knows just what would happen if Canada fractured. I love the eastern provinces, but that voting block would, I suspect, be left of center if they joined the Union. Lol, I suspect most of the country would be happy to see New England join Canada.
They’d have to negotiate themselves into NAFTA, I suspect. The “PROVINCE” of Quebec is not a signatory at present.
I also wonder what would happen to the St.Lawrence Seaway agreement. Would they put up a toll booth in the middle of the river?
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