“Very confident” to keep her achievements on the island of Montreal, the liberal leader Dominique Anglade concentrates her efforts in the regions, where she believes she is able to recover seats lost in 2018.
The battle for the regions of Quebec is set in motion a few months before the launch of the Quebec election campaign. This week, the Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ) government announced its regional air transport plan, in addition to making a handful of economic announcements in Gaspésie. And Thursday, it was the turn of the Quebec Liberal Party (PLQ) to present its vision of regional revitalization: the Charter of the Regions.
The document, which takes up about twenty pages, relies on “less paternalism” and “more regionalism”. In particular, he proposes to install a regional deputy minister in each region of Quebec. He also suggests completely revising Quebec’s fiscal pact with the municipalities, concluding immigration agreements with each region and introducing a tax credit to attract workers from major centres.
However, while Ms. Anglade was presenting her charter in Trois-Rivières on Thursday, a new challenge was looming in Montreal. The political party Mouvement Québec, launched the day before by the former candidate for mayor of Montreal Balarama Holness, will do everything in its power to grab the Anglophone and ethnocultural vote from the West Island. This is also where he should present most of his candidates. “Montrealers are the ones who asked us to get started. They are currently worried about the leadership of the PLQ, ”said Mr. Holness on Wednesday before parliament in Quebec.
Of the 28 Liberal MNAs elected to the National Assembly, 19 have their riding office in Montreal. Most of these constituencies have never escaped the control of the political party. Asked about the arrival of a new player in Mouvement Québec on Thursday, Dominique Anglade did not worry too much.
“I’m very confident that people will look at this and say to themselves: ‘We, what we want is to have a strong voice in the National Assembly, and that goes through the Liberal Party of Quebec.’ We don’t take anything for granted, but I am very confident, ”she said.
“Across the country”
The elected representative of Saint-Henri–Sainte-Anne assured that recruitment “is going well” and that her party will present quality candidates in the regions. After the 2018 elections and the departure of its leader Philippe Couillard, the PLQ had only one riding east of Montreal: that of Jean-Talon, in Quebec. It has since passed into the hands of the CAQ.
“The Liberal Party is a party that wants to represent all Quebecers. It seems obvious to me that we have to be on the whole territory, ”launched Ms. Anglade on Thursday. She agreed that the pandemic may have slowed down some field activities.
According to a Léger poll published in the Quebec newspaper Thursday morning, the PLQ monopolizes 11% of the French-speaking vote in Quebec. It ranks second, far behind the CAQ, when all voting intentions are taken into account.