The Liberal leader’s accomplishment is a surprising achievement for the
former Quebec health minister and neurosurgeon who just a few months ago
was widely seen as an indecisive rookie leader.
But the 56-year-old Couillard benefitted from Marois’s many campaign
missteps and a disastrous campaign in which voters appeared to get cold
feet when Pierre Karl Péladeau entered the race and said he wanted to
make Quebec a country.
“My dear friends, the division is over. The reconciliation has begun,”
Couillard told cheering supporters Monday night. “We are all Quebecers.
The pride in Quebec, of our identity, our language and our flag belongs
to all Quebecers.”
The Liberals won 70 of the legislature's 125 seats, compared with 30 for
the PQ. The Coalition Avenir Québec took 22 seats and Québec Solidaire
finished with an additional seat for a total of three.
