Two ministers, a leader and several MPs from three federal parties passed through Montreal on Thursday to lend a hand to their candidates in the riding of LaSalle-Émard-Verdun, where the heated by-election campaign is halfway over. The Duty went to observe the efforts they are making to try to preserve – or to seize – this liberal stronghold.
Before resigning from his position as a member of Parliament, former Canadian Justice Minister David Lametti was a regular at Café Central, located a stone’s throw from the Monk station of the Montreal metro, says co-owner Philippe Lisack.
The name of the current Liberal candidate, Laura Palestini, is unfamiliar to him. “I’ve never seen her, never heard her,” says the man, who proudly wears a T-shirt representing the Ville-Émard neighbourhood. Even though he identifies as “liberal, basically,” he hasn’t yet decided who he’ll vote for in the federal by-election on September 16. He says he’s prepared to let himself be influenced. “In a week, people will talk to me more about it. We’ll see what they think!”
Like him, several voters met by The Duty said they have not yet made up their minds. The New Democratic Party (NDP) and the Bloc Québécois see this as an opportunity to seize. Polls place the two parties neck and neck in voting intentions, just behind the Liberal Party (PLC), which suggests a three-way fight.
After losing in June in a Liberal stronghold, Toronto-St. Paul’s, Justin Trudeau is under intense pressure to hold on to LaSalle-Émard-Verdun, which observers have called a bellwether riding for his popularity in Montreal. The prime minister’s political future could even be compromised by a defeat.
NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh also needs some good news. One of his Manitoba seats is currently on the line after one of his top MLAs, Daniel Blaikie, left to work for Premier Wab Kinew.
Singh arrived in Montreal on Thursday for his fourth day in the riding in as many weeks of campaigning. After railing against Conservative Pierre Poilievre in front of Canadian National union members on a picket line in Lachine, Singh went to the grocery store to pick up a large bag of Royal Gala apples and a jar of baby formula. “It was almost $80. Just that!” he told the cameras once he arrived in Verdun, saving his best attacks for Justin Trudeau.
The party’s local candidate, Craig Sauvé, has set up his headquarters on Wellington Street, which is pedestrianized for the summer, in a modern, clean space with high ceilings and hardwood floors. The Montreal city councillor says he has been touring the neighbourhood since March to promote the NDP’s promise to cap the price of essential goods. He calls the cost of groceries “an absolutely critical issue here.”
“I love my job on the city council, but there are limits to what you can do,” he told the DutyHe wants to move to the federal level in the hope of making “structural changes in society, such as social housing.”
Ministers on the ground
The space rented by the Liberals is located nearby. It would go almost unnoticed, were it not for the protesters stationed outside. Registered with Elections Canada, protesters wave Palestinian flags, blast music and tell passersby in English that a vote for the LPC is “voting for genocide.” “I was very loyal to the Liberals, for a long time. That’s over,” says Anna, 65, who wishes to withhold her last name.
In the absence of a coat of paint, plaster is still visible on the walls of the cramped commercial premises. Even though it is already dark, an activist pulls back old blinds as best she can and places election signs in front of the only window to hide from view the special guests who have come to motivate the volunteers on whom the campaign is based.
Amidst a round of applause, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Chrystia Freeland addressed the packed room, emphasizing in French the topic of dental care, before delivering a speech without notes in the language of the Italians that praised the candidacy of a member of this community.
The main interested party and candidate of the Trudeau team, Laura Palestini, believes she has a comfortable lead over the other candidates. The former manager at the pulp and paper company Domtar is also a municipal councillor, having been elected five times to represent the citizens of LaSalle, the western part of the riding. “For me, seniors are very important. It is a population that is sometimes fragile, that needs help and assistance. I think that our programs are aligned to help seniors. I am in the right place with the Liberal team,” she said in an interview.
Contradicting the slogans chanted on the other side of the window, she says she is touched by the images coming from the Gaza Strip. “To know that people are dying, that doesn’t please me at all.”
The Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry, François-Philippe Champagne, was also on site on Thursday, after spending part of the day visiting homes for the elderly with Mr.me Palestini. “What is the funis that people recognize his face,” he tells the Duty.
There are a lot of English speakers in LaSalle. They tend to gravitate more naturally toward the Liberal Party. Or the NDP, secondarily.
Headwind for the Bloc
LaSalle resident Sylvie Laramée has already made her choice: she will vote for the Bloc Québécois. That said, she has little hope of seeing her riding change allegiance. “There are a lot of anglophones in LaSalle. They naturally go more towards the Liberal Party. Or the NDP, secondarily.”
The challenge of convincing voters in such a diverse riding doesn’t discourage Louis-Philippe Sauvé, the sovereigntist party candidate in Ottawa, who says the main issue of the election is housing. He mentions having succeeded in convincing anglophones dissatisfied with Justin Trudeau during his long door-to-door sessions, which he ends at 8 p.m.
“Are there any issues that concern you?” he asks all the voters he meets in the south of the Verdun district, where he has arranged to meet Duty.
The 31-year-old former Bloc political employee is accompanied by Salaberry-Suroît MP and party whip Claude DeBellefeuille, who gives him some advice along the way. As he walks, voters — nearly half of whom speak English — politely blame his party for several issues that are more the province of the Quebec government, such as Bill 96 on French. “Normally, the riding here is red with cotton, but here, we have a very close race,” he says to a motorcyclist who is dissatisfied with the development of a bike path.
The Bloc candidate received a visit the day before from Parti Québécois leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon and former Bloc leader Gilles Duceppe. However, the party’s current leader, Yves-François Blanchet, lowered expectations over the summer. In the 2021 election, the LPC garnered twice as many votes as the Bloc candidate, its closest rival.
LaSalle-Émard-Verdun has always been Liberal since its creation, during the 2013 redistribution, but the old ridings that make it up were represented by the NDP after the “orange wave” of 2011. Its eastern part was also in Bloc territory from 2006 to 2011. The Conservative Party of Canada, represented by entrepreneur Louis Ialenti, did not respond to the requests of the DutyAt least 62 independent candidates will also be in this race to show their opposition to the current voting system.