(Drummondville) The leader of the Conservative Party of Quebec, Éric Duhaime, praised the unity of his party following an electoral record against a backdrop of internal tensions and frustration with the results of the last election.
Posted at 1:14 p.m.
Updated at 7:05 p.m.
The defeated candidates of the political formation were gathered Saturday in a hotel in Drummondville after a week where some testified anonymously in various media to criticize the way in which the campaign was carried out by the leadership of the party.
“There are indeed people who are disappointed and I am part of it. […] Now there are ratings that are also very positive […], so it’s very uneven, disappointment from person to person. That being said, there are people who want us to change things and we would be fools not to do so, ”he explained, surrounded by dozens of candidates.
The party intends to hire new employees and develop “new computer tools” in order to “professionalize itself”, he added.
“Things are going to change”
If he admits that “things will change”, Éric Duhaime insists on the fact that “the common denominator is our conservative values”. The former radio host cited several files that he intends to carry in the coming months.
He firmly opposes, among other things, the suggestion of the general manager of the Board of Trade of Metropolitan Montreal, Michel Leblanc, to prohibit solo driving during rush hour in the Louis-Hippolyte-La Fontaine tunnel in order to limit traffic congestion during the works.
“For us, it’s a dangerous precedent, it’s not true that we’re going to accept this kind of policy, because if we allow it in a tunnel, what will it be like tomorrow? “, he launched.
The Conservative leader nevertheless launched a point to those who criticize the party’s approach on condition of anonymity. “Of course you don’t solve problems in a political party by pissing in a journalist’s ear,” he said, triggering laughter in the room.
PHOTO JACQUES BOISSINOT, CANADIAN PRESS ARCHIVES
Eric Duhaime
Dissatisfied
Between 80 and 90 candidates had responded to an invitation sent by the Conservative Party to collect their suggestions and comments following the last campaign, said the political party’s press secretary, Cédric Lapointe.
Upon their arrival at the Le Dauphin hotel on Saturday, many did not want to expand on what they intended to do as criticism.
“Many things,” said the defeated candidate in the riding of La Peltrie, Stéphane Lachance, when asked what could have been done better in the Capitale-Nationale, a sign of the mood at the rally.
“We are 125 candidates. There may be one, two, three candidates who came out on condition of anonymity in the media who are more dissatisfied, but that does not reflect the climate I have experienced here. What I experienced here was a gang of people who were disappointed on different levels […]but I did not feel any great division, any great tension, ”commented, at the end of the event, the party candidate in Portneuf, Jacinthe-Eve Arel.
Shortly after, a party activist, Jonathan Hamel, however attacked “the disastrous management” of the campaign. He also criticizes members of the party’s leadership for putting forward their “anti-immigration” and “anti-ethnic” positions, contrary to that of the Conservative Party, opposed to the reform of Bill 101 of the Legault government.
Note, the party says that Jonathan Hamel still has in his possession the list of donors to the political party, and asked him, through a lawyer, to return it. Jonathan Hamel was not present at Saturday’s election report.
More than a million in annual budget
Remember that the Conservative Party of Quebec failed to elect any MNA in the last election.
However, the party had high hopes of making a breakthrough in Beauce and it came very close to realizing this wish. This gave rise to a battle in Beauce-Nord between the conservative Olivier Dumais, also mayor of Saint-Lambert-de-Lauzon, and the outgoing CAQ MP Luc Provençal, who finally won with a slim lead of 202 votes.
Despite everything, the political party won 530,786 votes, or 12.91% of the votes cast.
Under that result, the party will raise at least $1.39 million in public funding each year of the next term, or $2.62 for every vote. Note that this amount is indexed each year.