The Quebec Liberal Party is going through a turbulent period.
Its chief organizer, Jean-François Helms, announced Saturday afternoon on social networks that he will not renew his mandate.
He informed the leader Dominique Anglade and the new president of the party, Rafael Primeau-Ferraro, in the morning.
This announcement comes at the end of a tumultuous week which saw the expulsion from the Liberal caucus of the member for Vaudreuil, Marie-Claude Nichols, following her refusal to obtain responsibilities within the shadow cabinet of Ms. Anglade.
In his long message posted on Facebook to PLQ activists in which he thanks several of his collaborators, Mr. Helms is not very vocal about the causes of the harsh defeat suffered by his party on October 3, its worst electoral result for several years. decades. He doesn’t seem to take sole responsibility, at least for now.
“Out of respect for all those who have gone to the front for us, we have a duty to learn from their experiences in order to improve ourselves. Me first, he wrote. It is therefore crucial for me that a detailed report emerges from these post-mortems and that the information collected is used with a constructive objective of improving our practices, our planning, our organization and our vision and I mean go to the end of this process. »
Chief organizer of Dominique Anglade’s campaign during the aborted race for the leadership of the PLQ in 2020, he then rose through the ranks within the formation. In June 2020, he was appointed director of operations and electoral preparation before being promoted to chief organizer two months later.
But the organization, one of the main strengths of the PLQ throughout its history, went down the drain during the campaign: delay in recruiting candidates, candidates left to their own devices, lack of supervision of local associations.
Mr. Helms had a few good words for Ms. Anglade. “Day after day, despite adversity, I have seen her look forward with the strength, determination, positivism and pragmatism worthy of a prime minister. Thanks Dominic. »
No doubt sensing a discontent within the party, he called for unity. “With all my heart, I urge you to stay united. I wish you the best of luck and I hope you can succeed,” he said.
Mrs. Anglade took note of the decision of her chief organizer in a rather emotional way. “We’ve known each other for seven years already! You were in my very first partial! And we had lots of good times. Many thanks for all the work done. And as I often like to say, the future is long,” she wrote on Twitter.
Jean-François Helms was also a political adviser to the Minister of Transport of Quebec, Robert Poëti, and to the Minister of Education, Recreation and Sport, Sébastien Proulx.
On October 3, the PLQ obtained the worst score in its history, electing 21 deputies and winning only 14% of the popular vote (6% in Quebec, 3% in Saguenay), fourth among the five main parties in terms of popular support, behind the Coalition avenir Québec, the Parti Québécois and Québec solidaire.