Liberal leader aspirant Frédéric Beauchemin has the support of two former ministers: Kathleen Weil and Luc Blanchette. They will be in Trois-Rivières on Friday when the MP officially enters the race.
“These are people who share the same liberal values as me,” he said in an interview with The Canadian Press.
Kathleen Weil was a Member of Parliament from 2008 to 2022. She was a minister in the Charest and Couillard governments. She notably held the positions of Minister of Justice and Minister of Immigration.
Luc Blanchette was Minister of Mines and Minister of Forests, Wildlife and Parks during the reign of Philippe Couillard.
Frédéric Beauchemin also managed to obtain the support of one of his colleagues in the caucus, the member for Chomedey, Sona Lakhoyan Olivier.
Former Finance Minister Carlos Leitão has already announced his support for the Marguerite-Bourgeoys MP.
“There is no free lunch in life”
Frédéric Beauchemin wants to position himself as a “centre-right” candidate who will advocate better management of public finances.
“There is no free lunch in life, we absolutely must be good managers of the state machine so that it is representative of the aspirations of future generations,” he says.
Mr. Beauchemin maintains that he does not want to cut public services. In the same breath, he says that “each program should be revisited from time to time to ensure that we are not spending money unnecessarily.”
A lack of awareness
The leadership will, however, be a challenge for Mr. Beauchemin, who is not very well known to the general public. He has spent the last few months traveling across Quebec to make himself known to Liberal activists.
Last October, the MP was the target of complaints of psychological harassment filed by the then president of the youth wing, Élyse Moisan. He had been excluded from the Liberal caucus. Frédéric Beauchemin was finally reinstated in December after the complaints were withdrawn following a mediation process.
The former executive and head of capital markets at Scotiabank thus becomes the fourth candidate to succeed Dominique Anglade. The other aspiring leaders are the former president and CEO of the Fédération des chambres de commerce du Québec, Charles Milliard, the former mayor of Montreal Denis Coderre, and the tax lawyer Marc Bélanger.
Federal Transport Minister Pablo Rodriguez is still thinking about it. The Canadian Press reported last month that Mr. Rodriguez was working behind the scenes with the help of close associates to enter the race.
The challenges to be met are already numerous for the next leader of the Liberals: the needle of the polls does not move in their favor, their support among francophones is starving, the young have deserted the party and he must reconquer the regions of Quebec.
The race officially begins in January 2025. The new Liberal leader will be chosen in the summer of that year.