Former Montreal mayor and former federal minister Denis Coderre plans to run for the position of leader of the Quebec Liberal Party, we have learned The Press.
If he refuses to talk about it in public, in private, with several people, he does not make it a mystery: he is “considering seriously” the idea of entering the race for leadership of the party, without a leader permanent since the departure of Dominique Anglade in November 2022. The next leader must be chosen in 2025.
For several months, Mr. Coderre has been holding more meetings to gauge his support, and privately, he says he is encouraged by the reception.
Elected federal deputy for Bourassa, in the northeast of Montreal, in 1997, he held various ministries. He resigned from Parliament in Ottawa in 2013 to run for mayor of Montreal, where he was elected in November. Defeated by Valérie Plante after one mandate in 2017, he tried to be re-elected in 2021, without success.
Since then, he has worked as a consultant and sports commentator on radio, before suffering a stroke last April. The 60-year-old man has recovered and tells those around him that his neurologist gives him the green light, without restriction.
His potential candidacy is far from unanimous, but until now, this key position has aroused very little interest.
To those he meets, the former Minister of Immigration highlights his knowledge of current political issues, his political experience and his great reputation. If some see in him a candidate capable of finally putting the PLQ in the media spotlight, others on the contrary see in him a politician from another era, weighed down by two successive defeats in Montreal.
No announcements are planned at this time, but his behind-the-scenes campaign appears to be entering a new, public phase.
Worst defeat of the PLQ
In the October 2022 elections, the PLQ suffered the worst electoral defeat in its history. The party managed to elect 21 deputies, however obtaining only 14.3% of the votes cast, a historic low. The polls of recent months are hardly more favorable to the PLQ.
In the wake of this disappointing result, the leadership of leader Dominique Anglade was undermined, leading to her departure from political life.
PHOTO MARCO CAMPANOZZI, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES
Dominique Anglade announced her resignation as leader of the Quebec Liberal Party in November 2022.
She thus left her riding of Saint-Henri–Sainte-Anne vacant. Like one more tile that falls on the PLQ, it is the solidarity Guillaume Cliche-Rivard who was elected to succeed him.
Marwah Rizqy was widely approached to run for the leadership, but gave up this project last September, at least for the moment. At the time of this announcement, Mme Rizqy summed up in one word what she expected from the future Liberal leader: “flamboyant”.
Frédéric Beauchemin interested
For now, only MP Frédéric Beauchemin still shows interest in entering the race. The latter was expelled from the Liberal caucus last October due to a complaint of psychological harassment. He was reinstated there in December after the complaint was withdrawn.
The deputies André Fortin and Monsef Derraji, expected for a time, both announced that they would not be candidates. The interim leader, Marc Tanguay, did the same. It was last October, during the party’s general council in Drummondville, that the PLQ announced its decision to elect its next leader in the spring of 2025.
With the collaboration of Yves Boisvert, The Press
Denis Coderre in brief
1997
Denis Coderre was elected Liberal MP in the federal riding of Bourassa, in Montreal, a position he held for 16 years. He will notably serve as Minister of Immigration.
May 16, 2013
Still a federal Liberal MP, he launched into municipal politics by creating the Équipe Denis Coderre pour Montréal group.
November 3, 2013
He was elected mayor of Montreal with just over 31% of the vote, ahead of his opponents Mélanie Joly and Richard Bergeron.
November 5, 2017
Running for re-election in 2017, Denis Coderre was defeated. In the speech in which he recognized Valérie Plante’s victory, Mr. Coderre announced that he was leaving municipal politics.
March 28, 2021
When passing through Everybody talks about it, Denis Coderre announces his return to politics for the municipal elections. He ran for mayor with his former party, which had been renamed Ensemble Montréal.
November 7, 2021
Denis Coderre is again defeated by Valérie Plante. Five days later, he announced that he refused to sit as leader of the opposition at city hall and that he was leaving politics for good.
April 11, 2023
Denis Coderre has a stroke forcing him to relearn how to walk and talk. “I thank God,” he said on QUB in June.