By-election in LaSalle–Émard–Verdun | A castle to take or preserve

The federal by-election on Monday in LaSalle–Émard–Verdun, a Liberal stronghold in Montreal, is fraught with danger. The tension is palpable among the Liberals and the New Democrats, who are newly divorced and have everything to lose.

To the four main parties in LaSalle–Émard–Verdun, one request: could we do a bit of door-to-door canvassing with your candidate?

With the Bloc ahead according to two consecutive Mainstreet polls, it was settled immediately.

On the Conservative Party side, radio silence, despite repeated text messages. Radio-Canada did not obtain an interview with candidate Louis Ialenti either.

What do we know about him? On the Conservatives’ website, he highlights the fact that he is a “native Montrealer who has lived in many neighbourhoods on our island. His life story is complete and lived.”

Door-to-door under the flashes in the neo-democrat camp

The team of NDP candidate Craig Sauvé set the meeting for Tuesday evening, when leader Jagmeet Singh was there to galvanize the troops, accompanied by a good dozen MPs, including old hands from the days of the orange wave.

The few citizens who open their door to the NDP candidate and his leader are surprised to see Jagmeet Singh and a whole host of photographers and cameramen appear on their doorstep.

It was caucus day for the NDP and the NDP leader responded to reporters during the day.

Although also invited to the constituency in the evening, the media are not allowed to ask any questions to Chief Singh. Only pictures are allowed.

It was also necessary to negotiate hard to have the right to speak to candidate Craig Sauvé.

“What will the questions be?” a communications officer asks us. (Journalists do not give candidates their questions in advance.)

We will finally get a five-minute interview with Mr. Sauvé.

An independent city councilor in the South-West borough, he had to withdraw from Projet Montréal three days before the Montreal elections in November 2021 and sit as an independent when an allegation of sexual assault resurfaced.

He has always vigorously denied having anything to reproach himself for. There has been no legal action in this case.

Is he afraid that the 2021 episode will harm him in the campaign? “This issue is already settled,” he replies.

In an interview, Craig Sauvé assures that citizens want to hear him on his priorities, which are “the cost of living, climate change, health, housing.”

But earlier this week, it was the Palestinian flag on one of Craig Sauvé’s leaflets that attracted most attention.

Despite the controversy, he persists and signs. “What is happening in Gaza is catastrophic. I am in full solidarity with the Palestinian people,” he says, also pleading for the release of all Israeli hostages.

Canada must once again become a leader in international politics, a role it has neglected too much, denounces Craig Sauvé. “We are the party that has concrete solutions that will lead to peace in the Middle East,” he assures.

Mr. Sauvé will note in an interview that Chief Singh is on his eighth or ninth visit to the riding.

In the last three elections, the Liberals won in LaSalle–Émard–Verdun. The last time, in 2021, David Lametti won with 43.1% of the vote. But in 2024, ejected from the cabinet, Lametti gives up his seat as MP. Hence this by-election.

For the liberal, the pressure to preserve a bastion

This time, nothing is won for the Liberals. The latest Mainstreet poll conducted between September 7 and 9 gives 29.6% of voting intentions to the Bloc candidate, compared to 24.1% for the Liberal candidate and 23% for the NDP candidate*.

Justin Trudeau’s decision to impose Laura Palestini as a candidate in July went down badly with the three other aspiring candidates.

It took four days of text messages and calls to Laura Palestini’s headquarters to get her to do some door-to-door work.

The candidate arrives surrounded by seven or eight young liberal volunteers.

In an interview, Mr.^me Palestini refutes the idea of ​​parachuting. “Being parachuted in means someone comes from outside. I was born in LaSalle, I even lived in the same house until last year.”

A municipal councillor in LaSalle since 2005, she says this is her ninth election campaign — five for her, four more to help colleagues.

So, she knows the terrain. “I’ve been campaigning every day since July,” she says, adding that this is her second tour of addresses where the vote seems particularly decisive to her.

M’s priorities^me Palestini? “Young people, their future – so daycare places, the economy – but also the elderly, who are fragile when they are over 80. They need support.”

She also spoke about the importance of dental care for the elderly, saying that she was touched, while campaigning, to see that many of them covered their mouths when they saw her because they no longer had their teeth.

In this last stage, M^me Palestini is making sure that people who answer the door will know where to find her on the ballot, the longest in federal election history, with 91 names. (As in June, during the by-election in Toronto–St. Paul’s, Ont., dozens of independents ran a bogus candidacy to oppose the first-past-the-post system.)

M^me Palestini explains to every citizen who opens his door that he is in the second column, that the names are in alphabetical order.

Only one citizen will engage in a long discussion about her priority: making the Facebooks of this world pay more, and so that they pay for part of our social services. “I pay my taxes, but it’s not enough,” she will say.

Among the Bloc Québécois, enthusiasm

On the Bloc Québécois side, candidate Louis-Philippe Sauvé climbed a good number of spiral staircases that are typical of Verdun that day (Monday).

Between two rings of the doorbell, he sings a little song, buoyed by the lead he holds, according to the Mainstreet polls.

September has chased away the humidity of July and August, summer lingers and for their final sprint, the candidates have perfect weather.

“We are here to defend the interests of Quebecers,” Louis-Philippe Sauvé told a citizen.

“If you are unhappy with Justin Trudeau, I invite you to vote for the Bloc. You know, the Conservative Party has no chance of winning [dans la circonscription] ” he said to another.

In this neighborhood, which has a large number of tenants, Louis-Philippe Sauvé presents himself as a millennial “who knows what it’s like to save up to become a homeowner.”

“The Bloc Québécois is the Parti Québécois?” a citizen asks him.

Louis-Philippe Sauvé answers that no, that the Bloc is at the federal level, and the PQ, at the provincial level.

Crossed on Wellington Street, in the heart of Verdun, Samuel Leroux notes that many people are unaware that there is a by-election. And that for those who are aware, the choice is not easy.

“The NDP has just torn up its agreement with the Liberals and under these conditions, how will things evolve? What will happen to the Liberal Party? There is a by-election on Monday, we can want to vote strategically, but with what has just happened, we are confused.”

* The margin of error is 4.73 points, 19 times out of 20.