Marois minority government survives first test as its 2013-14 budget passed

QUEBEC – It’s now official: there won’t be another Quebec election in January.

Finance Minister Nicolas Marceau’s 2013-14 budget passed by a vote of 49-48 in the national assembly today.

PQ members supported it, but the Opposition Liberals and the Coalition party voted against it.

The two parties could have toppled the minority government had their combined 69 members rejected the budget, but the Liberals had previously stated they didn’t want another election and that some of their members wouldn’t turn up for the vote.

As a result, only 27 Liberals voted. They were joined by all 19 members of the Coalition party and the two members of the left-leaning Quebec solidaire.

Former Liberal finance minister Raymond Bachand pointed to a recent poll that suggested 65 per cent of Quebecers didn’t want an election just a few months after last September’s vote.

The PQ won 54 of the province’s 125 ridings in theelection, compared with 50 for the Liberals.