No Couillard-Marois transition meeting until next week: interim PQ leader

QUEBEC – Quebec premier-designate Phillipe Couillard will have to wait at least a few more days before discussing the transition of power with his predecessor, Pauline Marois.

The symbolic but important post-election meeting signifying the change typically takes place a few days after a provincial election.

Interim Parti Quebecois Leader Stephane Bedard said today the face-to-face encounter should occur sometime early next week but he did not specify the day.

It isn’t expected before Tuesday.

In the meantime, members of the Liberal transition team are meeting behind the scenes with their PQ counterparts.

In September 2012, outgoing Liberal premier Jean Charest met with Marois just 48 hours after his party’s election loss.

There was still no official word from Marois’s camp four days after Monday’s general election, which saw the Liberals snag 70 of the 125 seats in the legislature to form a majority government.

The PQ was left with 30 seats following the stunning defeat and Marois lost her own riding of Charlevoix-Cote-de-Beaupre.

The outgoing premier has been careful to avoid reporters since announcing on election night she was stepping down.