QUEBEC – Voters gave French-speaking Quebec its first separatist government in nine years, as a lone gunman sought to take the state back for “the anglos.”
The left-leaning Parti Quebecois (PQ) won 54 of the 125 seats in the provincial legislature in Tuesday’s election, only four more than the outgoing Liberal government, and far short of the majority it would need to hold a referendum on independence, with almost 75 percent of the vote. Campaign promises included higher personal taxes and increased royalties on mining firms. The party also wants to make foreign takeovers of Quebec companies more difficult and toughen laws on the use of French.
PQ leader Pauline Marois, 63, took a bipartisan tone in her victory lap. “Quebecers have made their choice and we will respect this choice by governing with all the other parties,” she said. “We are all here to serve Quebecers and I am convinced that on this basis we can find the necessary compromises to ensure the state runs properly.”
But not everyone sought compromise that night. Quebec police are attempting to determine whether a gun-wielding man wearing a bathrobe and a balaclava was targeting Quebec premier-elect Pauline Marois. Reports indicate that the shooter has been identified as Richard Henry Bain, owner of a hunting and fishing shop in La Conception, according to the Journal de Montreal. The suspect, who is 62 years old and heavy-set, was armed with an assault rifle and a handgun.
The gunman only got as far as a vestibule outside the hall Tuesday where the Parti Québécois leader was speaking when he shot and killed one person and seriously injured a second before he was apprehended by police.
According to one witness, his AK-47 rifle jammed.
As he was being led away, the alleged lone gunman shouted: “the anglos are waking up” in French with an English accent. Alternating between English and French he added: “There’s going to be f—ing payback. It’s enough. Wanna make trouble.”
French speakers make up about 80 percent of Quebec’s 7.8 million population.