Madeleine Cloutier and Étienne Grandmont have very different profiles. However, they are each trying to win the hearts of Québec solidaire activists in the riding of Taschereau, which has become the scene of a fratricidal struggle in recent weeks.
On the ground, it is time for mobilization a few days before the nomination vote which will determine the united candidate called to succeed Catherine Dorion. Door-to-door, phone calls: all means are good to convince the 1,500 activists who hold a party membership card to vote for his team.
At the bar Le Drague, a stone’s throw from Parliament Hill, a hundred curious people came to attend Madeleine Cloutier’s “festive gathering”. It’s hot, on this early June evening, but even hotter inside.
On a screen at the back of the room, the words “brilliant and formidable” float above a snapshot of the candidate taken during a demonstration. Dressed in a jeans coat, Catherine Dorion came to attend the evening organized by the one she sees becoming her runner-up. “It’s going to be like a show rock tonight”, launches Madeleine Cloutier on the stage tinged with “solidarity” orange.
“Feminist dance”, music and poetry are on the menu. All interspersed with speeches by the candidate for the nomination: “Taschereau, it could be the epicenter of the revolution”, launches Madeleine Cloutier to a convinced audience.
In the Grandmont clan…
Étienne Grandmont is not unemployed either. A stone’s throw away, a few days later, his own militant rally was held. The format is surprising. In a 5 to 7 formula, the participants discuss over a beer the housing crisis, the climate and the tramway in Quebec.
” The minister [Laforest] does nothing” to resolve the housing crisis, the government has “done everything to put the brakes” on the tramway project, we will hear during two hours of discussion riddled with questions from local citizens. “These are issues that I raise a lot, and people talk to me about them spontaneously,” said Étienne Grandmont in an interview with The duty in the minutes preceding its event.
There are then less than two weeks before the vote, scheduled for June 18. The struggle is relentless.
“I’m a little tired, I admit,” agrees Étienne Grandmont. “Rarely have I seen so many people take an interest in a nomination,” said Madeleine Cloutier in an interview. Since the start of the campaign, hundreds of people have joined the pool of eligible voters.
Taschereau has not always belonged to Québec solidaire. It was Catherine Dorion who broke through first in this riding, which covers a good part of the upper and lower towns of Quebec. Four months before the general election, however, the Qc125 poll aggregation site gives the left party a ten-point lead in Taschereau.
Madeleine Cloutier was Councilor Jackie Smith’s running mate in the November municipal election. Trained in dramatic arts, she describes herself as an early activist. “I am someone who wants to do politics in the street, with the street, who supports the street and who relies on the street,” she says.
General manager of the organization Accès transports viables and formerly of Vivre en ville, Étienne Grandmont “brings a wealth of experience based on 17 years of anchoring in the district,” he says. “I have a network that is essentially based in Taschereau, a detailed knowledge of the files. »
“Our ways of doing politics are different, but at that point, it’s the world that will decide,” notes Madeleine Cloutier.
It was the co-spokesperson for Québec solidaire, Manon Massé, who first approached Étienne Grandmont. At the same time, Catherine Dorion last month gave her support to Madeleine Cloutier, “a winner “, according to the outgoing MP.
“I was a little disappointed,” admits Étienne Grandmont candidly. But at the same time, Catherine is a member of Québec solidaire and has the right to support whoever she wants. Me, my supports, I went looking for them, really, in the middle. I don’t feel like I was lacking support. »
The candidate who will receive the support of solidarity activists on Saturday will become the 100e candidate nominated for the elections.