A month and a half before the election, according to projections, the Coalition avenir Québec (CAQ) could get its hands on ridings held by the Parti Québécois, notably in Gaspésie and the Îles-de-la-Madeleine, on October 3 next. But for the current PQ MP for Gaspé, Méganne Perry Mélançon, the popularity of François Legault’s party can only “go down”.
For the three ridings in this region, namely Bonaventure, Gaspé and the Îles-de-la-Madeleine, all won by the PQ in the 2018 elections, the latest projections, dated August 12, from the Qc125 site, place the CAQ and the PQ formation neck and neck.
Speaking of her CAQ opponents, Méganne Perry Mélançon maintains that their popularity can only go down. “When you reach this level without having made major reforms and without having proposed real structural changes for Gaspé residents and for people from other regions, you can only be disappointed,” says the PQ member, met at the marina, at the edge of Gaspé Bay.
However, we must not take anything for granted and “work hard”, adds Ms.me Perry Mélançon, seated at a table holding a bag of “My choice is Méganne” pins. She narrowly won in 2018 ahead of her liberal opponent – with a 41-vote lead after a recount. This time, she will have to fight against the CAQ.
The candidate is convinced that the Parti Québécois is “a force in Eastern Quebec”. She intends to put forward her assessment of the last four years and the work that remains to be done concerning housing and daycare places in Gaspésie. “It takes someone who already has both hands in it and who knows their world,” says Méganne Perry Mélançon, under a gray July sky.
A tight fight
A few steps away, tourists stroll on rue de la Reine, located in the heart of Gaspé, while locals shop. Among them, Alain Cloutier underlines the “beautiful job” done by Méganne Perry Mélançon with regard to families and daycare centres. “It was her first term and she didn’t sit on her behind,” said the retiree. “Pardon the expression,” he hastens to apologize.
From Gaspé to Sainte-Madeleine-de-la-Rivière-Madeleine, in the north of the riding, Route 132, which winds between the sea and the mountains, makes you dizzy. Claudel Lévesque, who works at the tourist reception office near the Cap-de-la-Madeleine lighthouse, is convinced that the fight will be tight between the caquistes and the péquistes. “But François Legault has the wind in his sails,” says the 64-year-old man, raising his voice to drown out the noise of the gusts.
Passionate about politics, Mr. Lévesque believes that PQ training is in its final days. “But they did some good things,” he notes, adding that it’s time for the Gaspé to “try the CAQ.”
Even if the CAQ is considered the party to be elected, according to Claudel Lévesque, we do not yet know who will be a candidate for the formation at the time these lines were written. The Liberal Party of Quebec and Quebec solidaire did not unveil any candidates for the riding either. The Conservative Party of Quebec will be defended by Pier-Luc Bouchard, a paramedic who also owns a construction company.
The CAQ covets Bonaventure
In Bonaventure, a riding in the south of the Gaspé Peninsula, CAQ candidate Catherine Blouin says she will have no difficulty “being heard” if elected. Met in the town of Carleton-sur-Mer, where many go fishing on the wharf, the 36-year-old woman describes herself as “a girl of action who is able to share her ideas”.
Bonaventure, a riding won by the PQ in 2018, but long represented by the Liberal Nathalie Normandeau, is ripe “to experiment with power”, believes the communications advisor at the CISSS de la Gaspésie. The CAQ has a “good listening” with regard to Gaspé issues, adds Catherine Blouin, who was regional press officer for the party in the last elections.
Mme Blouin, spouse of the mayor of Carleton-sur-Mer and prefect of the MRC d’Avignon, Mathieu Lapointe, points out that she still has “work to do” to gain the confidence of voters. She intends to meet them from one end of the riding to the other, she says, under a strong July sun. The CAQ candidate will have to compete against the PQ Alexis Deschênes.
An hour from Carleton-sur-Mer, in the town of Bonaventure, Alexis Deschênes says he decided to run as a PQ candidate “in his hometown” because of the “turmoil” that arose in the Parti Québécois.
Sylvain Roy, the current MP who has represented the riding since 2012 without interruption, announced last July that he was not running again. Elected as a PQ in the last election, he had slammed the door of the Parti Québécois in June 2021 to sit as an independent, due to the breakdown of the bond of trust between him and leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon.
Alexis Deschênes says he then said to himself: “It’s not true that I’m going to let the situation deteriorate without doing everything I can. For several months, the legal aid lawyer has been crisscrossing the riding to talk about housing, environment and land access issues, says the 44-year-old man, seated at the Café acadien, his place of residence. childhood.
In announcing his departure, Sylvain Roy invited the voters of Bonaventure to “choose someone with whom you would be ready to go to war”, reports Alexis Deschênes. “And I think I am that person,” adds the former journalist.
An “opportunity to seize”, according to Québec solidaire
Met at the Edgar Café Buvette on the waterfront in the town of New Richmond, resident Éric Young maintains that Sylvain Roy “was fighting and putting us on the map “. “My family and I were never PQ members, but he did a really good job,” says the 45-year-old.
The departure of Mr. Roy is “an opportunity to be seized”, according to the candidate of Quebec solidaire in Bonaventure, Catherine Cyr Wright, seated on the terrace of the same café for an interview with The duty.
Although she finished fourth in 2018, the 32-year-old underlines that the presence of ten united deputies in parliament during the term that is ending could be a game-changer in the next elections. “We see the work that Émilise Lessard-Therrien is doing in Rouyn-Noranda–Témiscamingue to represent her region and that it is bearing fruit,” explains Ms.me Cyr Wright.
Originally from the region, Catherine Cyr Wright says she is well placed to represent Bonaventure, having herself been confronted with certain problems experienced by her constituents. She gives the example of the lack of child care spaces for her first child, now 2 and a half years old. The solidarity candidate will also campaign “with a belly”, she says, flattering her stomach. She is expecting her second child for Christmas.
The lack of housing also affects many citizens of the riding of Bonaventure, continues Ms.me Cyr Wright. “I lived nine months in the basement with my parents with my boyfriend when I came back [en Gaspésie] because we had no accommodation. According to her, Québec solidaire has been talking about the housing crisis for years and she thinks “people have heard”.