(Quebec) A few hours after the solidarity Olivier Bolduc embarked on the partial in Jean-Talon, The Canadian Press obtained a copy of a communication from Quebec solidaire (QS) encouraging “strongly” its members to choose a woman in this riding.
“Although the final choice is yours, and in the absence of currently having the power to impose the gender of a candidate in the context of a by-election, we strongly encourage you to choose a woman to wear the colors of Québec solidaire during the upcoming by-election! “, Can we read in an email sent to the solidarity members of Jean-Talon and signed by the president of the party, Nicolas Chatel-Launay.
It is also reported that the Coordinating Committee encourages female members of QS to run for nomination.
“This is a unique opportunity to bring a new, strong female voice into the National Assembly and swell the ranks of the Québec solidaire caucus! “, we write.
Currently, there are four women and eight men in the solidarity caucus in the National Assembly. It is a man, Guillaume Cliche-Rivard, who was elected during the partial election in Saint-Henri–Sainte-Anne last March.
During its national council last February, the party voted in favor of a proposal to put in place means to impose female candidates in future elections.
Ex-candidates want a wife
Several former candidates and activists of the party also indicated to The Canadian Press on Monday that they would rather see a woman as a candidate for this election. Some even suggest that Olivier Bolduc should give up his place.
“Quebec solidaire is a feminist party and I think that at this stage, men should give way to women if we want to continue to say that we are the feminist party of Quebec”, launches the former solidarity candidate in Chauveau in 2022, Jimena Aragon.
“It’s not to say to Olivier: ‘don’t introduce yourself’, but I think we should appeal to all men to make room for women to introduce themselves in Jean-Talon,” she adds.
Jimena Aragon ran for the solidarity nomination in Jean-Talon in 2022. She lost to Olivier Bolduc. Today, she assures that she will not appear for the nomination for the partial. She has been campaigning for QS in Jean-Talon since 2020.
Jimena Aragon assures that if a woman represents the party during the partial, she will be at her side. She did not want to make a similar promise if Mr. Bolduc is the candidate.
“To be an ally is to give up one’s place”
Andrée-Anne Tremblay, who was responsible for the women’s committee of QS de la Capitale-Nationale in the last year, also thinks that Olivier Bolduc should give up his place.
“Anyone who gets involved in QS must, at a minimum, be an ally, and being an ally means giving up when certain groups are underrepresented and that’s what’s happening right now with the solidarity caucus,” says the activist.
Andrée-Anne Tremblay says that she will “most likely” campaign during the partial in Jean-Talon regardless of who is a candidate.
“I invite Olivier Bolduc to join a woman’s candidacy and campaign with her, since he is known and has already campaigned,” suggests the former solidarity candidate in Montmorency, Annie-Pierre Bélanger.
For now, Olivier Bolduc is the only officially declared candidate for the nomination at QS.
The former coordinator of the riding of Jean-Talon and activist for QS, Flavie Lavoie-Cardinal, is not asking Mr. Bolduc to give up his place, but wants to see a woman on the starting line.
“I hope we will have a very good female candidacy. I hope that the members will choose a female candidate”, she explains.
“I would have liked it to be a woman who started first and I hope that it will not discourage women from going there,” said the former candidate in the riding of Rivière-du-Loup – Témiscouata, Myriam Lapointe-Gagnon.
The former solidarity candidate in Bonaventure, Catherine Cyr Wright, appeals to women. “We have an opportunity to seize as a feminist party to elect another woman,” she said.
“It is certain that if we want to achieve parity in caucus, we must have women elected and for that, women must be candidates for nominations and that they win them,” adds Ms.me Cyr Wright.
Last week, solidarity MP Ruba Ghazal also encouraged women to get into the partial.
“Our party has extraordinary, competent women who are full of talents to bring the Québec solidaire social project to Parliament in accordance with our deep values,” she wrote on Facebook.
A candidate on the starting line
Earlier Monday, solidarity Olivier Bolduc announced to The Canadian Press that he was setting out to win the riding of Jean-Talon from the Coalition avenir Québec (CAQ). A candidacy that comes less than a week after the announcement of the departure of the caquiste Joëlle Boutin.
“The people of Jean-Talon have the right to have a member who is loyal and who will not let them down,” he said in an interview.
PHOTO JACQUES BOISSINOT, THE CANADIAN PRESS
Deputy Joelle Boutin
Olivier Bolduc has already tried twice to win the county for Quebec solidaire (QS). In 2022, he finished second with 24% of the vote.
“To see the same person appearing three times in Jean-Talon, I think it’s convincing. The person wants to continue. She’s not here to leave,” he said.
In 2018 and 2014, he tried his luck in the riding of Chutes-de-la-Chaudière on the south shore of Quebec.
Olivier Bolduc has been a court reporter since 2015. He worked as a railway worker for six years.
Last week, MP Joëlle Boutin announced that she was leaving politics less than a year after being elected to spend more time with her family. She also received an offer in the private sector.
“I’m still warmed up, yesterday was the general election. […] I think we are leaving with serious advantages. We have a good machine and activists who are ready to return to work, ”assures Mr. Bolduc.
But he will first have to win the solidarity nomination before being officially the candidate for the party in the constituency.
“Unlike the CAQ where François Legault decides everything, we have an internal democracy at QS and that is dear to us. […] It’s more difficult sometimes, it takes a little longer, but it’s worth it,” he says.
The other political parties have not yet announced who will represent them in Jean-Talon.
A hot fight ahead
We can expect a fierce fight in Jean-Talon. Voting intentions in the Quebec region have changed a lot in recent months. With the decline of the Coalition avenir Québec (CAQ) on the third link, the party of François Legault lost support in favor of the Parti québécois (PQ).
The last two Léger polls published in May and June place the PQ at the top of voting intentions in Quebec.
The Parti Québécois (PQ) has also moved the location of its pre-sessional caucus to this riding. Initially, the event was to take place in Alma. The caucus will be held on August 31.
The PQ opened hostilities on social networks last week, less than 24 hours after the resignation of Joëlle Boutin, with messages in which he indicated that he wanted to “beat the CAQ in Quebec”.
The current projections of the poll aggregator Qc125 place the PQ, QS and the CAQ on a statistical equal footing in Jean-Talon.
The government has six months to call a by-election after the departure of a member. The estimated cost of such an election is $585,000. This will be the fourth partial in Jean-Talon since 2008.