Dominique Anglade bends the spine. The 48-year-old woman will announce her departure from the leadership of the Quebec Liberal Party (PLQ) during a press briefing at 10:30 a.m.
She summoned the media to a hotel in the riding of Saint-Henri – Sainte-Anne, which she has represented in the National Assembly since 2015. The Liberal leader ultimately did not go to a vote of confidence.
Last month, the PLQ reaped the worst result by universal suffrage in its history of more than 150 years, with 14.37% of the vote, less than Québec solidaire and the Parti Québécois. The Liberal caucus also found itself amputated by ten elected officials compared to 2018 (from 31 to 21).
Dominique Anglade managed to save the day by winning the election in her constituency by 2,700 votes.
But things quickly turned sour. After stating in an interview with The duty that she intended to “quickly” ask her members if they still supported her, the Liberal leader, a former minister in the government of Philippe Couillard, found herself at the heart of the storm when she decided to exclude from her caucus the member for Vaudreuil, Marie-Claude Nichols – who had refused transport-related files in the Liberal shadow cabinet.
Last week, Ms. Anglade agreed that the saga had gone “too far”, but failed to convince the MP to sit down with her again in the official opposition. Since then, criticism has been pouring in, both from former MPs and activists.
Last week, former minister Lucie Charlebois raised in the pages of the To have to serious doubts about the credibility as leader of Ms. Anglade. “When she returns to Parliament, do you sincerely think that Mr. Legault will listen to her when she speaks to him? she had said.
Other elected officials who sat alongside the engineer by training during the last term expressed their loss of confidence in her. According to former minister Lise Thériault, Ms. Anglade “dug her own grave”. According to another former ministerial representative, Gaétan Barrette, she acted in a “completely disproportionate” way in the Marie-Claude Nichols saga.
The reign of Dominique Anglade at the head of the Liberal Party is the shortest in the history of the political formation. It stops at 910 days.
Further details will follow.