EON

Montreal (EON) - Voters in the province of Quebec denied secessionists a chance to lead the French-speaking province out of Canada and handed the ruling Liberals a weak mandate in the process.

As the final votes were counted late Monday, the Liberals barely came out ahead with a minority government winning 48 of the province’s 125 seats.

The upstart Action Democratique (ADQ), whose socially conservative agenda resonated with rural voters in the province, garnered 42 seats and supplanted the separatist Parti Quebecois (PQ), who finished third with 37 seats, in opposition.

Incumbent premier Jean Charest, once nicknamed “Captain Canada” for his role in the constitutional wars that consumed Canada throughout the second half of the 20th century, squeaked through on a late-night surge of votes after initial reports said he had lost.

Quebec elections are traditionally fought on how the province fits into the Canadian federation - 80 per cent of the 7.65 million people in the eastern province speak French as their first language, while English predominates among Canada’s other 25 million people.

Quebec elections have traditionally been fought between the PQ, who advocate creating a new country, and the Liberals who promote staying in Canada, over how to achieve that goal.

The rise of the ADQ, whose leader Mario Dumont, a former separatist who now advocates positioning Quebec as an autonomous region within a united Canada, threw the election into chaos, leaving the result in question up to the last moments of the campaign.

“Quebecers have spoken, and we have accepted their decision” Charest said in his subdued victory speech late Monday. “We have to recognize they rendered a severe judgment. We have lessons to learn.”