(Laval) The Coalition avenir Québec (CAQ) will be represented by the president of its youth wing, Victor Pelletier, during the by-election in the Montreal riding of Saint-Henri–Sainte-Anne, vacant since the resignation of Dominique Anglade.
Prime Minister François Legault made the announcement Thursday evening during an activist cocktail party in Laval, on the sidelines of his party’s caucus meeting to prepare for the parliamentary session which will begin on January 31.
The date of the poll has not yet been set. For the moment, we plan to hold the by-election in March, they say behind the scenes. The government must call the ballot by 1er June under the law.
Victor Pelletier, 21, has chaired the CAQ’s Succession Commission since last fall. He is political attaché to the MP for Blainville, Mario Laframboise, and a student in political communication at the University of Montreal.
In the general election on October 3, Liberal leader Dominique Anglade won with 36% of the vote – against 28% for Québec solidaire (QS) and 18% for the CAQ. The party of François Legault was then represented by Nicolas Huard-Isabelle, a political attaché of the government.
QS was the first party to announce its candidacy in the constituency, earlier this month. Immigration lawyer Guillaume Cliche-Rivard is trying his luck again. QS, which stalled in the general election, intends to pull out all the stops to win Saint-Henri–Sainte-Anne from the Liberals. He has already held an activist rally in the constituency last Sunday.
The Liberal Party of Quebec, which was rocked by a crisis leading to the departure of its leader last fall, says it is “very confident” to keep its seat. “Several applications” are currently “under analysis”, said its interim chief Marc Tanguay this week.