You don’t have to wander around Saint-Henri–Sainte-Anne (SHSA) for a long time to realize that this is no ordinary riding.
In a few blocks, you can go from the chic Joe Beef restaurant to an HLM, from a pawn shop to a Griffintown tower that raises its luxury condos into the sky.
It is here that the new battle of the opposition is being played out.
A by-election was called following the resignation of former Liberal leader Dominique Anglade. According to the Qc125 site, the Liberals and Solidarity would be statistically equal. Monday evening, the result will depend on a question: who voted?
SHSA is the union of six neighborhoods: Petite-Bourgogne, Griffintown, Saint-Henri, Pointe-Saint-Charles, Ville-Émard and Côte-Saint-Paul. If one sector votes more than another, it could tip the scales.
Less than six months after the last general election, citizens have other things on their minds. The participation rate will probably barely exceed 30%. For the parties, the key will therefore be to knock on the right doors.
When compared to the Quebec average, SHSA has fewer minors and fewer seniors, fewer couples with children and fewer Francophones (59% compared to 82% for Quebec as a whole).
Its population is more made up of people in their thirties and forties, single-parent families, Anglophones, allophones, visible minorities as well as university graduates.
Prior to 1992, Sainte-Anne and Saint-Henri were two separate ridings.
The PQ has already detained Saint-Henri thanks to a valuable deputy: Jacques Couture, a priest, labor activist and Minister of Immigration and Labor under the first René Lévesque government. Apart from this interlude, she has always been liberal. And Sainte-Anne is an even darker red.
Since their merger, the PLQ has never lost. Until recently, a Liberal defeat was unthinkable there. But the party fell last fall, and we will soon know if it succeeded in applying the brakes.
The new interim leader, Marc Tanguay, traveled to the Southwest of Montreal at least three times a week to support his candidate Christopher Baenninger.
Parliamentary leader Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois also often came to support his candidate Guillaume Cliche-Rivard. For this one, it’s a rematch. Resident of the district, this lawyer specializing in immigration came second in October with 27.7% of the votes, against 36.2% for Mme England.
PHOTO MARTIN TREMBLAY, PRESS ARCHIVES
The Québec solidaire candidate for the by-election in Saint-Henri–Sainte-Anne, Guillaume Cliche-Rivard, approaches voters at the Jolicoeur metro station.
Former president of the Quebec Association of Immigration Lawyers, he speaks four languages (French, English, Spanish and Arabic), he has already defended, among others, Mamadi Camara and the “guardian angels” of Edward Snowden and he has worked in Syria, Tunisia and Uganda, among others. This makes him an expert sought by the media on immigration issues.
Since the start of the partial, Mr. Cliche-Rivard has been sandwiched. The PQ accuse him of not defending French or independence, as if that bothered him. And the Liberals recall that QS voted for the CAQ reform of Law 101. At a minimum, we can say that these issues are not its priorities.
When Mr. Cliche-Rivard talks about language, it is often to point out that his party would extend the six-month period granted to newcomers before they are served only in French by the state. His campaign focuses more on housing, the cost of living, public transit, the environment, daycare centers and schools (there are none in SHSA) as well as care for the elderly.
It is in SHSA that there is the largest concentration of HLM in Quebec. For those who don’t take advantage of it, affordable rents are rare, and gentrification doesn’t help.
In SHSA and Verdun, the rental vacancy rate was barely 1.4% in 2022. That is less than the 2% for the island average.
Québec solidaire has gone all out in recent weeks with proposals to ban evictions for the benefit of Airbnb and protect tenants with pets.
It is not so different from the Liberal priorities. If it plays hard between the leaders, the candidates are reluctant to criticize themselves. Like Mr. Cliche-Rivard, Mr. Baenninger remains gentle and affable.
A graduate in art and art history who has become a “social entrepreneur”, Mr. Baenninger has already lived in the neighborhood before settling in Villeray. He too speaks four languages (French, English, German and Italian), which helps him court the Italian community of Ville-Émard.
PHOTO MARTIN TREMBLAY, PRESS ARCHIVES
The Quebec Liberal Party candidate for the by-election in Saint-Henri–Sainte-Anne, Christopher Baenninger
Centrist, its housing proposals are more moderate than those of QS. And, therefore, more difficult to explain in a few seconds during door-to-door visits. A good example: clause F, which allows unlimited rent increases during the five years following the construction of a new dwelling. The Solidarity would cancel it, while the Liberals would revise it without saying how – they want to consult the community first.
Unlike Messrs. Baenninger and Cliche-Rivard, the péquistes and caquistes have few expectations.
Andréanne Fiola, a PQ candidate specializing in the environment, has a modest goal: to convert the success of her leader’s esteem into votes to beat the result of the PQ in SHSA last October, or 8.3%. Despite her 23 years, she already has experience as a candidate in a Quebec election and two municipal elections in Laval.
As for the CAQ, it presents the president of its succession commission, Victor Pelletier. Employee of the Blainville constituency office, he is on unpaid leave. During the day, he campaigns. In the evening, he studies at the university, which prevented him from participating in the assemblies where the candidates could debate.
His campaign takes up the commitments of the CAQ such as tax cuts. This is normal – the party being in government, its projects are known.
Either way, none of that will change on Monday. What is at stake is the choice of a new voice for the opposition. And for a constituency that also often feels far from power.