Riding of Jean-Lesage | “The CAQ will believe that everything is allowed”

Throughout the campaign, The Press visits to constituencies where nothing is decided, to meet voters, candidates and the issues that matter to them. Today: Jean-Lesage.

Gabriel Beland
The Press

(Quebec) The fight promises to be tight in the riding of Jean-Lesage, where a battle against the background of the environment opposes solidarity and caquistes.

The outgoing deputy, Sol Zanetti, does not beat around the bush. If the Coalition avenir Québec (CAQ) is elected in Jean-Lesage after having allowed industrialists to release more nickel into the air, according to him, this will be a message for all of Quebec.

“The CAQ is going to believe that it is all allowed in terms of the environment, loose the solidarity candidate in an interview. I feel a national responsibility to win here. They can’t tell themselves that they can do this again elsewhere and that it will pass. »

His surprise election four years ago was decided at the finish line. He had obtained only 699 votes more than the caquiste Christiane Gamache.

This retired teacher has decided to represent herself. The rematch will likely take place, since the poll aggregator Qc125 places Québec solidaire (QS) and the CAQ neck and neck in Jean-Lesage.

The Legault government’s decision to raise the allowable limit of nickel released into the air led to an outcry from citizen groups in this Quebec riding where there is an incinerator, a pulp and paper plant and the transhipment activities of port.

Even before the increase in the standard, a hundred exceedances of nickel concentrations had been observed in a measuring station in the Limoilou district since 2013. No sanction had been applied by Quebec.

The CAQ candidate tries to be reassuring. She recalls that the government has installed new sensors to measure air quality in this urban sector. Quebec has also created a committee to study the issue of air quality, particularly in the Limoilou district.

“I have lived in the Lairet district, which is in Limoilou, for 30 years. If there was a danger, if there is one who would be aware, it would be me. I would not stay there, I would move, ”says M^me Gamache in interview.

She holds a similar speech on the third link. The highway tunnel dear to the CAQ must exit at the limit of Jean-Lesage, in an area already surrounded by highways.

“I live very close to where the third link could come out. So, really, if there could be any danger, I would move. I would not stay at home, ”says M^me Gamache, who invites the population to trust the Tunnel Project Office.

Between the Plateau and the suburbs

The election of Mr. Zanetti surprised many observers in 2018. Alongside Catherine Dorion, he formed the less flamboyant half of the Quebec solidarity duo in the National Assembly.

This time, the solidarity campaign in Jean-Lesage boasts of having nearly 400 activists, 150 more than four years ago.

The professor of political communication at the National School of Public Administration Philippe Dubois notes that Jean-Lesage is a particular riding, which makes any prediction risky.

“It straddles the central districts and the beginning of the suburbs. We have Limoilou, which is the district of Quebec that looks more like the Plateau Mont-Royal, and we have Beauport. The electorate changes from one street corner to another,” notes Mr. Dubois.

Last Friday evening, Sol Zanetti knocked on the doors of the apartment buildings of the 4^e Avenue, in Limoilou, to convince voters.

A man from Brazil opens the door. He does not know the incumbent, says he does not know who to vote for. Zanetti, who was a philosophy professor in CEGEP before becoming a deputy, begins to talk about Brazilian politics. Roque Jesus dislikes right-wing president Jair Bolsonaro. He listens to Zanetti talk to him about the environment and the redistribution of wealth. That’s enough for him: he promises him his vote.

The CAQ candidate assures that she also does a lot of door-to-door. His opponents, however, accuse him of having refused to participate in two local debates.

“She is absent everywhere,” accuses the candidate of the Conservative Party of Quebec (PCQ) in the riding, Denise Peter. “She did a little debate on Radio-Canada and she read her notes, did not answer questions. »

Christiane Gamache replies that she is on the ground. “You can’t say that I’m absent. I go door to door, I go to events, I meet people. As for the debates, I went to Radio-Canada, and it was recorded. People can take notice of it. »

M^me Gamache says she wants to work on setting up Phase 4 of the Samuel-De Champlain promenade in Beauport, to open up access to the river. She also claims to want to “bring the voice of citizens to the Prime Minister”.

Sol Zanetti says he has doubts. He recalls that M.^me Gamache holds the position of vice-president of eastern Quebec on the executive council of the CAQ.

“It sounds like a title with influence. What do you mean, she didn’t use her influence so that the government wouldn’t go in that direction [avec le nickel] ? »

Charles Robert, candidate for the Liberal Party of Quebec, and Michaël Potvin, of the Parti Québécois, will try to confuse the issue. Their performance on Monday could seal the outcome of the ballot, believes Philippe Dubois.

“There are two unknowns. If there is, as we suspect, a collapse of the Liberal vote in Quebec, we will have to see where these votes will go, he said. On the other hand, up to what point will the PCQ be able to eat into the support of the CAQ in Beauport, and allow QS to sneak in? »