Former Montreal mayor Denis Coderre considering the Liberal leadership is “good news,” according to interim leader Marc Tanguay. For him, he is a “potential quality candidate”.
“I’m not surprised at all. […] For me, it is confirmation that there are quality people in Quebec who are thinking about the race,” he said in an interview with The Canadian Press on the eve of the pre-sessional caucus of the Liberal Party of Quebec (PLQ) which will take place in Thetford Mines.
Two weeks ago, Denis Coderre confirmed that he was eyeing the party leadership. The former federal minister will travel to Santiago de Compostela in May before making his final decision.
Marc Tanguay recalls that the race has not officially been called and he says he is confident that there will be other candidates on the starting line. “We can’t wait for the debates to take place,” he assured, adding that he will remain neutral in the race.
But there is another person who is thinking about the Liberal leadership and who has made it known publicly: the Liberal member for Marguerite-Bourgeoys, Frédéric Beauchemin.
The latter has just been reinstated within the Liberal caucus. He was excluded last October due to complaints of psychological harassment filed against him by the president of the Youth Commission of the Liberal Party (PLQ), Élyse Moisan.
“Glad to see that the mediation was successful and that the complaints were withdrawn. Glad to find Fred Beauchemin who will have all his files,” said the Liberal leader.
Marc Tanguay was, however, cautious about the terms of the MP’s reinstatement. “I’m going to keep the discussions I had with Fred to myself […] I am not going to comment further, because the situation is behind us,” he said.
Federal Liberal MP Joël Lightbound has not ruled out entering the leadership race. Marc Tanguay as well as deputies Monsef Derraji, Marwah Rizqy and André Fortin all closed the door. The next Liberal leader will be chosen in the spring of 2025.
Immigration
Immigration and the housing crisis are currently causing a lot of discussion in Quebec. Although Marc Tanguay recognizes that the two subjects are linked, he places responsibility for the situation on the Legault government.
“With the number of new arrivals, it is clear that we need more public services and housing. But once again, we must not turn away from this bad government which did not act when it should have acted,” he said.
“We must ensure that we have controlled immigration,” adds the Liberal leader.
There are currently more than half a million temporary immigrants in Quebec. Last Wednesday, the leader of the Parti Québécois, Paul St-Pierre Plamondon, said that his party would reassess its permanent immigration thresholds, currently set at 35,000 new arrivals per year, arguing that the situation had changed significantly since the last election. .
Marc Tanguay has already opened the door to revising his party’s permanent immigration target. During the previous election, the PLQ wanted to increase this number to 70,000 new arrivals per year. “The question of thresholds (for permanent immigrants) becomes theoretical when there are 500,000 temporary workers in Quebec,” argued the Liberal leader in an interview. According to him, temporary immigrants are essential in the context of labor shortage.
Hydro-Quebec
Radio-Canada reported on Saturday that the CAQ government was preparing a bill to allow private companies to sell their electricity among themselves. This would allow Hydro-Québec to purchase their surpluses.
“This is an important debate. We have been asking for a national conversation on our energy future in Quebec for more than a year and that must clearly be part of the debate,” he said.
“The future of Hydro-Québec cannot belong solely to François Legault and (the Minister of Economy, Innovation and Energy) Pierre Fitzgibbon behind closed doors,” added the Liberal leader.
The PLQ wants to use its caucus, which will take place from January 23 to 25, to set the tone for the parliamentary session. The party wants to follow the government on the issue of the economy and SMEs.