(Quebec) Late in recruiting, the Parti Québécois is stepping on the accelerator by presenting 22 candidates who will run for election this fall. These new recruits are not, however, in constituencies traditionally won by the PQ.
Posted at 2:09 p.m.
The political formation thus presents 11 women and as many men to defend the colors of the Parti Québécois on October 3. “Carrying this torch to the four corners of Quebec also requires determination, a quality that all of our candidates have in common; they might even resell it! said Parti Québécois leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon in a statement.
Since the beginning of the pre-campaign, the PQ troops have been slow to put candidates in the ranks. By way of comparison, at the start of the week the Parti Québécois had around sixty candidates announced out of 125, while the Coalition avenir Québec, Québec solidaire and the Conservative Party of Québec have more than 110 each. The Liberal Party of Quebec is also lagging behind with less than 80 confirmed candidates.
“We have at least a hundred confirmed candidates, but not all of them have been announced,” said Parti Québécois communications director François Leroux in an interview. “Honestly, we still have a lot of candidates who have not completed their process,” he added. According to Mr. Leroux, this slower start should not be seen as a link with the difficult polls for the Parti Québécois.
Mr. Leroux assures that recruitment is going well. Today’s announcement “is a testament to that,” he said.
List of new PQ candidates announced:
- Beauce-Nord: Pamela Lavoie-Savard
- Chateauguay: Marianne Lafleur
- Jacques Cartier: Chantal Beauregard
- Jeanne-Mance–Viger: Laurence Massey
- The Prairie: Sarah Joly-Simard
- Mount-Royal–Outremont: Ophelie Bastien
- Orford: Monique Allard
- Pontiac: Jolaine Paradis-Châteauneuf
- Sainte-Rose: Lyne Jubinville
- Terrebonne: Genevieve Couture
- Westmount–Saint-Louis: Florence Racicot
- Bertrand: Guillaume Freire
- Bourassa-Sauve: Zacharie Robitaille
- Brome-Missisquoi: Guillaume Paquet
- Champlain: Alexandre LItalien
- Chauveau: Charles-Hubert Riverin
- Chomedey: Rachid Bandou
- South Coast: Michel Forget
- Drummond–Bois-Francs: Emrick Couture-Picard
- Gouin: Vincent Delorme
- The Plains: Normand Ouellette
- Vaudreuil: Christopher Mass