Close to Justin Trudeau’s circle, candidate Anna Gainey won Monday evening the three-way race for the Liberal nomination in the riding of Notre-Dame-de-Grâce-Westmount, left vacant by former minister Marc Garneau. At the heart of the concerns of the activists who came to vote was that of preserving the “rights” of Anglophones.
Even before the result of the count was known, many activists were already applauding and shouting for joy at the end of a brief speech given by the candidate around 5 p.m. in a church in Westmount, two hours before the end of the vote. Anna Gainey then learned that she had won this nomination shortly after 8:30 p.m., to thunderous applause from dozens of activists who came to participate in the unveiling of the result of this vote.
Thank you, NDG-Westmount.
It is a real honor to have your confidence as a Liberal candidate in this important by-election.
Now, let’s work even harder until June 19! pic.twitter.com/CZZx6cEiWZ
— Anna Gainey (@annamgainey) May 16, 2023
“It is truly a great honor to have been chosen as the Liberal candidate in this riding,” said Ms. Gainey, who served as President of the Liberal Party of Canada from 2014 to 2018. tomorrow,” she added, in a brief speech held mainly in English after the announcement of the result. She then hugged her daughter before leaving the scene without speaking to the media.
Anna Gainey, who is the daughter of former Montreal Canadiens general manager Bob Gainey, was the most prominent candidate for the nomination. The mother of three children had also publicly received the support of tenors of the party in the last days, starting with the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mélanie Joly, as well as the minister responsible for Crown-Indigenous relations, Marc Miller.
Ms. Gainey will therefore represent the PLC in the riding of NDG-Westmount during the by-election which will take place on June 19. This seat has been vacant since the former Minister of Transport, then of Foreign Affairs, Marc Garneau announced his departure from politics, at the age of 74, last March.
Three candidates
Ms. Gainey, however, faced a strong opponent, Fred Headon, who shook hands with many activists who voted for him on Monday. Since 2006, he has held numerous positions within Air Canada, before becoming vice-president and general counsel for labor and employment law within the company last year. A volunteer for the PLC since 1988, this investiture, however, represented his first attempt to become a candidate for an election.
“I told myself that I had reached there in my career”, launched all smiles Fred Headon, a few hours before the result of this investiture was revealed. The economic vitality of the sector and the integration of immigrants were among his priorities, he indicated in an interview.
Jonas Fadeu was certainly the least known candidate for this investiture. He was also greeted on stage by a heavy silence, while the vote was held in the room opposite. Strategic advisor to the office of the Minister of National Revenue, Mr. Fadeu had tried his luck in the last federal election as a Liberal candidate in the riding of La Pointe-de-l’île. However, it was Bloc Québécois Mario Beaulieu who won a third term.
“Montreal needs to be represented by the people who live there,” said Mr. Fadeu in an interview, emphasizing the importance of increasing the proportion of members of visible minorities in the House of Commons. “We have to make sure that black MPs represent the population. »
Rights of Anglophones
This investiture took place the same day of the almost unanimous adoption Monday evening of Bill C-13 in the House of Commons. The document will thus continue its way to the Senate before officially becoming a law of Canada. However, this bill, which proposes a first reform of the Official Languages Act since 1988 and created a new law on the use of French in businesses under federal jurisdiction, was criticized by several Liberal activists. Marc Garneau had himself criticized this bill in recent months, saying that it violated the rights of Anglophones in Quebec.
“Anglophones are really worried about that. The issue is that the government should not tell people how to live their lives, ”argued David Taylor, a Liberal activist who came to exercise his right to vote as part of this investiture. In the language of Shakespeare, other activists encountered by The duty shared similar concerns Monday night.
“The challenges for the English-speaking community exist. It’s true that she feels a bit overwhelmed. But I am confident that we are able to rebuild a situation where everyone feels comfortable, everyone is respectful and that the language issue is resolved in a way that pleases everyone,” said Fred Headon. . In an interview, he stressed the importance, according to him, of setting up programs to ensure “the vitality of the English language” in Quebec. “A language that has no culture dies. »
With Boris Proulx