For family reasons, Liberal MP André Fortin finally decided not to run for the leadership of the Liberal Party of Quebec.
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“André Fortin will not be in the ranks of the Liberal Party leadership race,” he said in an interview with 104.7 Outaouais.
Then, Mr. Fortin recalled that he had also given up trying to succeed Philippe Couillard when the latter left politics after being defeated in the general election in 2018.
- Listen to the Gagnon-Montpetit meeting with Karine Gagnon, political columnist at the JDM and JDQ and also assistant director of information at the Journal de Québec at the microphone of Marie Montpetit via QUB-radio :
“I wanted to help my party as much as possible, but at the same time it had to be done without depriving me of the kind of father I want to be. So I made the decision at that time not to be chief, and frankly, it was at that time one of the best decisions of my life, ”said the MP for Pontiac.
“The reality is that four years later the decision still stands,” he added.
The chosen one then explained that this decision was not easy to make. “Over the last few months, I was caught between two things that I would like to do, because the role of chef, for me, is a role that is interesting.”
According to Mr. Fortin, the role of the next leader of the PLQ will be to put the party back on “clear ideological bases” and “organizational bases which are solid”.
“It takes someone who can dedicate 100% of their energy to it,” he said.
- Listen to the meeting Fortin-Montpetit with Steve E. Fortin, blogger columnist at the Journal de Montréal via QUB-radio :
Moreover, the Liberal MP is convinced that several candidates will present themselves and that there will be a real leadership race. Interim leader Marc Tanguay and MPs Frédéric Beauchemin and Monsef Derraji have already signaled their interest in getting into the race. For the moment, André Fortin has not given his support to any of these potential candidates.
Finally, André Fortin argued that Quebec needs a “strong” Liberal Party, which would be both “the voice of the regions” and a federalist party “that can defend Quebec’s interests at all times”.
“It is a party that is open to the world, to others, and which can present a credible economic vision, which understands that we do not need to attack the rights of certain people to protect who we are at Quebec,” he said.