The Liberal Party of Quebec (PLQ) will crown its new leader at a congress organized in Quebec in the spring of 2025, the party executive confirmed on Sunday.
The PLQ wishes to “maximize the chances of having several candidates, from several different backgrounds and from outside if possible,” launched Nicolas Plourde, member of the PLQ electoral committee, on the last day of the general council organized in Drummondville.
Aspiring candidates will have to obtain the support of 750 members from 70 constituencies, in 12 regions of Quebec. Among the 750 members, 350 must be new members of the PLQ.
“We want the candidates to be on the ground and recruit new members, liberals,” underlined Mr. Plourde. Above all, “no one wants this race to be a coronation, it would be the worst thing for our party,” he warned.
He therefore encouraged the activists in front of him to “approach potential candidates and convince them to run”. ” It’s yours job and it must be done,” he stressed.
Unanimous… or not
The decision to hold a race in spring 2025 was “unanimous” in the party’s senior leadership. However, it caused a stir among activists.
“I would have preferred a race earlier,” said Gatineau activist Michel Gauthier, for example. “But it is better to have no leader than to have the bad leader,” he qualified.
William Baril, who supports aspiring candidate Frédéric Beauchemin and who is part of the party’s youth wing, declared that regional presidents, associations and commissions had indicated their support for a race from 2024. “The position, it was 2024. And in my opinion, it was strongly unanimous,” he said.
An activist from Dubuc, in Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean, took the microphone to say the same thing. “It looks like the activists are not being listened to,” he denounced. “Where we are today is not the position of the base [militante] in my opinion “.
More details will follow.