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Quebec to pick new national assembly speaker

Veteran Liberal MNA Jacques Chagnon has been all-but-confirmed as the next speaker of the Quebec's national assembly.

When a secret ballot is held Tuesday, he is expected to replace the outgoing speaker, Yvon Vallières.

Premier Jean Charest met with his caucus Monday to offer support to Chagnon.

Vallières presided over increasing raucous debates at Quebec's legislature until he said he couldn't do it anymore.

It all came to a head last week when the Parti Québécois threatened to pull its support for Vallières because he refused to force a fellow Liberal to appologize for a controversial statement.

The Liberals are blaming the PQ for inventing a crisis which forced a perfectly able speaker to resign.

Three candidates have come forward, including independent MNA Marc Picard and PQ veteran Francois Gendron, who has already served a short tenure as speaker.

But with the support of the Liberal majority Chagnon is likely to come ahead on the secret ballot.