Liberals to be sworn in on Thursday
QUEBEC The 70 Quebec Liberals elected in last weeks provincial election will be sworn in on Thursday as members of the Quebec National Assembly, a Liberal caucus source confirmed on Monday.
Premier-designate Philippe Couillard is huddling with his closest advisors to determine the lineup of the new Liberal cabinet he will announce after the Easter break, although no firm date for the cabinet announcement has been made.
When the cabinet is named, Couillard will be sworn in as premier and his cabinet members as ministers.
Quebecs 41st legislature is to meet first as early as May 6, the date set by the Marois government for the resumption. But the assembly could resume sitting later than that pro-forma date, to allow members of the new government to familiarize themselves with their new responsibilities.
Jean St-Gelais, whose title, secretary general of the executive council, means he is Quebecs top civil servant under outgoing-Premier Pauline Marois, met last week with his Liberal successor, Juan Roberto Iglesias.
But both Liberal and PQ sources kept mum on Monday about the prospect of a meeting this week between Marois and Couillard to symbolize the transition of power, but there were unconfirmed reports of a final meeting of the Parti Qubcois cabinet on Wednesday.
Elections Quebec reported Monday that the election of 123 of Quebecs 125 elected representatives has been confirmed.
Laviolette riding, which remained Liberal, is to report on Tuesday, and Ungava, which switched from the PQ to the Liberals, is to report its final tally on Thursday.
Both are huge ridings. In the case of Ungava, where Quebecs Inuits, Crees, Naskapis as well as transplanted southerners live, about 26,000 voters inhabit a territory covering about two-thirds of the provinces surface area.
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