RIVIERE-DU-LOUP, Que. — Action democratique du Quebec Leader Mario Dumont has finally engineered the electoral breakthrough that will make his party a force to be reckoned with.

He may have also changed the face of politics in Quebec for some time to come.

With election results still rolling in Monday night, the ADQ appeared headed for a key role in a Quebec minority government as it battled with the Liberals for seat supremacy.

"I hope it's a new era of Quebec politics that we can start today,'' Dumont said as he cast his vote in the small village outside Riviere-du-Loup, Que., where he grew up.

The ADQ's rise has effectively shattered the province's two-party system in place since the 1970s.

"I think from outside Quebec people have seen that every election was just a battle between the Yes and the Nos,'' Dumont said referring to the federalist Liberals and the separatist Parti Quebecois. "It's no (longer) the case in Quebec.''

Fighting his fourth election campaign as the ADQ's chief, Dumont had something to prove this time around.

His party was notorious for polling well, only to see its support evaporate come election day.

After riding high in the run-up to the 2003 campaign, the party ended up with only four seats and was left toiling in the political wilderness for another four years.

"During the last election we made campaign mistakes,'' Dumont said at the outset of this year's campaign. "I think people see that we have learned from our mistakes.''

Born in Cacouna, Que., a small town about 225 kilometres east of Quebec City, Dumont has represented the area at the provincial legislature since he was 23 and still counts on the region for much of his support.

Dumont, 36, made gains in the Quebec City area, the same region where Stephen Harper's Conservatives were able to make a breakthrough in the last federal election.

Dumont saw his support rise from the ashes during the campaign thanks in part to a conservative platform that earned him admirers in rural Quebec.

His stance that Quebec does too much to accommodate its religious minorities played especially well outside of Montreal.

But Dumont's rise to prominence was hardly a smooth ride.

The ADQ leader fired two candidates during the campaign, one for scoffing at violence against women and the other for suggesting Quebecers need to make more babies to avoid being overwhelmed by "ethnics.''

Both the PQ and the Liberals took shots at Dumont for fielding what they called a team of political neophytes.

Depending on who was asked, the high point of Dumont's campaign was his performance in the televised leaders debate.

Brandishing an engineer's memo during the debate, he accused Premier Jean Charest of hiding facts about an overpass collapse that left five people dead last fall.

"How could you so clearly neglect your responsibility?'' Dumont said to Charest during the debate.

The move was panned by many in the media as a cheap shot, yet polls conducted after the debate suggested a bounce in ADQ support.