Marc Tanguay’s phone “keeps ringing” in the run-up to the leadership of the Quebec Liberal Party. Satisfied, the interim leader of the political party would nevertheless like to hear more women on the other end of the line.
Back at the National Assembly for a press briefing, two weeks before the resumption of work, Mr. Tanguay did not hide his wish to see more women eyeing the party leadership, after a summer marked by new male candidacies.
“We will have those who will submit their applications. [Mais] “I think it would be important to have female candidates. I hope so, and then we will hope,” he said to the parliamentary press on Tuesday.
On June 21, summer took off with the arrival in the leadership race of former Montreal mayor and former minister Denis Coderre. It was then the turn of Charles Milliard, outgoing president and CEO of the Fédération des chambres de commerce du Québec, to launch himself, at the beginning of August.
Federal minister and current Quebec lieutenant for Justin Trudeau’s government, Pablo Rodriguez, may not have confirmed his candidacy, but he is also being heavily courted to try his luck. MP Marwah Rizqy, one of the few women to have publicly weighed the option of entering the race, ruled out the possibility at the end of last year.
Asked about Mr. Rodriguez’s profile, Marc Tanguay did not want to take a position on Tuesday. “It is the members who will decide who will be our next leader,” he simply replied.
According to a Léger poll,The Montreal Journal made public at the end of the day Tuesday, Denis Coderre sits at the top of the aspiring Liberal leaders, with 16% support among Liberal voters, against 13% for Mr. Rodriguez and 11% for Mr. Tanguay, who has nevertheless given up on the race. Charles Milliard, for his part, obtains 7% support.