Former CAQ whip Eric Lefebvre – who is now an independent MP – must give up his seat, proclaims PQ Pascal Bérubé. Mr. Lefebvre announced last week that he was going to run for Pierre Poilievre’s Conservatives in the next federal election.
According to Mr. Bérubé, there will necessarily be a partial election in the provincial riding of Eric Lefebvre (Arthabaska), because the federal elections will be held before the next provincial election.
“Let him leave now. This will give the opportunity, from 2024, to trigger a by-election and there will be a deputy for whom the National Assembly will be the first choice,” argued the PQ elected official at a press briefing on Tuesday.
Pascal Bérubé believes that this is an “ethical and moral question”. “The Conservative Party can hire him in the meantime and he will campaign full time,” he added.
Section 17 of the Act respecting the National Assembly of Quebec “provides that the seat of a member becomes vacant de facto if he is appointed to the Canadian Senate or if he is a candidate in a federal election or a provincial election in another province.
Conservative for 20 years
Sunday, during his first public appearance since his exclusion from the CAQ caucus, Eric Lefebvre defended his decision to join Pierre Poilievre’s conservatives by affirming that it had been his political family for two decades.
He was a Conservative candidate in the federal riding of Richmond — Arthabaska in 2008, but was defeated by the Bloc André Bellavance.
It is in this same riding that he will try to get elected in the next federal election. Independent MP Alain Rayes is the current MP for the Richmond — Arthabaska riding. Mr. Rayes left the PCC caucus just after the election of Pierre Poilievre as party leader. He had supported Jean Charest in the chiefdom. Alain Rayes has already indicated that he does not intend to run again.
Eric Lefebvre was first elected with the CAQ in the provincial riding of Arthabaska in 2016 during a by-election. He was then re-elected there in 2018 and 2022.
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