Action democratique du Quebec Leader Mario Dumont said voters should embrace the idea of a minority government after a new poll revealed a tight, three-way race in Quebec.
The CROP survey, conducted for La Presse and released Saturday, put Liberal support at 33 per cent, PQ support at 29 per cent and ADQ support at 26 per cent.
Dumont said Quebecers should not fear a minority government, citing Ottawa as an example of minority success.
"It doesn't prevent flowers from growing in the spring; the government is still awake and it's taking care of business,'' Dumont told the Canadian Press.
However, PQ leader Andre Boisclair refused to entertain the notion of a minority government and asserted his party will win a majority a victory over the Liberals at the polls.
"I have a feeling that the wind is blowing in the right direction,'' Boisclair said while campaigning northeast of Quebec City.
"I'm very happy with how everything is unfolding right now. I sense enthusiasm on the ground. We have our eyes on the goal: March 26.''
The telephone survey asked 1,000 people across Quebec about their voting intentions in the provincial election to be held March 26. The poll, conducted between March 1 and 8, is considered accurate within three percentage points, 19 times out of 20.
Although happy with his party's popularity, Boisclair declined to comment on the poll's numbers regarding separation.
The survey suggested 59 per cent of those surveyed want the PQ to abandon its goal of holding a referendum in its first mandate, while 35 per cent were in favour of the plan.
One of Boisclair's major campaign promises is to hold a referendum within his party's first term should it win the election.
Quebec voted against separation by less than one percentage point in 1995 during the last referendum.
Liberal leader Jean Charest said Dumont's comments over his party's rising popularity were premature.
"We are in the campaign to win,'' Charest said as he visited St-Jean-sur-Richelieu, 50 kilometres southeast of Montreal. "If Mr. Dumont wants to be arrogant to the point where he tells Quebecers how they're going to vote, well, good luck.''
ADQ controversies
Despite the positive poll results for the ADQ, Dumont's party was in hot water for the second time in two days.
Dumont dumped candidate Christian Raymond after disparaging remarks were made to a newspaper regarding Quebec's immigrant population.
Raymond told the newspaper Le Mirabel that Quebec needs to boost its birth rate, otherwise "ethnic groups will take over.
"People come here and we have to let them wear a turban and kiss the asphalt,'' Raymond said. "We let them come to our home, so they should respect the way we live. If they don't want to conform, they can go back to where they came from.''
Dumont responded quickly by saying he would not bring this kind of thinking to the national assembly.
Martin Camirand has since replaced Raymond.
On Thursday, Deux Montagnes candidate Jean-Francois Plante was dismissed after he made light of violence against women, on International Women's Day, while on an Internet radio show.
Charest poked fun at the ADQ by speculating Dumont's troubles with candidates was actually a calculated move by on his part.
"He's shown so much leadership that he's probably deliberately recruited all these candidates, right, so that he can fire them from the campaign and say, 'Boy, am I a great leader.'"
"At the rate he's going, I know he's talking about minority but he's going to run out of candidates," Charest said during a press conference on Saturday.
With a report from CTV's Annie DeMelt and files from The Canadian Press
