Jonquière, in Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean, will certainly be one of the counties to watch during the provincial elections, so much so that Premier François Legault will spend a few hours in the county on the day of the election call, Sunday. .
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“François Legault comes because he is afraid!” launched the PQ MP Sylvain Gaudreault, who has already announced that he was leaving politics several months ago.
The Parti Québécois formalized Thursday evening the candidacy of Caroline Dubé, who will try to keep the county in the bosom of the PQ.
Jonquière has been represented by a PQ MP for 37 of the last 46 years, including Lucien Bouchard, from 1996 to 2001, and Sylvain Gaudreault, since 2007. “We will show François Legault that we are ready!” supported Mr. Gaudreault to the crowd.
Caroline Dubé, 42, is a trained social worker. She has acted as political attaché to the Bloc Québécois MP for Jonquière Mario Simard since 2019. “Yes, Sylvain’s shoes are great to put on, but I’m going to put my color in them,” said this convinced sovereigntist.
Legault’s visit
A sign that the Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ) measures the importance of the riding, Premier François Legault will be there on Sunday, a few hours after the official start of the election campaign.
“I’m happy,” said Caroline Dubé. “We will have the opportunity to debate, present our ideas and defend ourselves.”
The CAQ did not, however, make available its candidate in Jonquière, Yannick Gagnon, on the pretext that the invitation for Sunday’s event had not yet been sent.
“We therefore cannot confirm his presence at this time,” he explained.
The minister responsible for Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean, Andrée Laforest, who is also from the neighboring riding of Chicoutimi, remains confident that the CAQ will snatch the last riding that still eludes it among the five in the region.
“We have invested a lot in Jonquière over the past four years, with the Patro, the Palace Theater and many others,” she observed. “With five deputies, Jonquière would increase its balance of power.”
The candidate of the Conservative Party of Quebec, Isabelle Champagne, also believes that François Legault will be in Jonquière because he “is afraid”.
“He knows that he displeased the region by rejecting GNL-Quebec despite 70% support,” she said. “Not to mention what he did during the pandemic! He’s trying to win people over.”
For Karla Garcia, of Québec solidaire, “the county will gain nothing with a fifth CAQ deputy. We need renewal!”
The Liberal Party of Dominique Anglade indicated that it would soon reveal its candidate for Jonquière, without being able to specify whether it was a person who already lived in the riding.