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QUEBEC

It really was all about Gérard Deltell.

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The worst fears of the struggling Coalition Avenir Québec materialized Monday evening as the party’s traditional vote in the Quebec City riding of Chauveau, held by the popular and charismatic Deltell for two terms, melted away in his absence.

Deltell quit provincial politics in March to run federally for the Conservatives.

And it was the provincial Liberals who cashed in on the vacuum, reclaiming the riding it has not held in 10 years. The win was made sweeter because the Liberals, as predicted, easily held their fortress riding of Jean-Talon, also in the Quebec City region. Sébastien Proulx will be the new MNA for that riding.

But even if the Parti Québécois didn’t win, it did manage to increase its share of the vote, especially in Jean-Talon where it went from 22.48 per cent to 28.97.

The Parti Québécois was hoping for a “PKP effect,” given the arrival of its new leader Pierre Karl Péladeau, but it was not enough to change the voting patterns of the PQ-averse people of Quebec City.