Prime Minister François Legault must reveal, Sunday afternoon, the identity of the person who will run for the votes for the Coalition avenir Québec during the by-election in the riding of Marie-Victorin.
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Having become necessary following the departure of Catherine Fournier – who became mayoress of Longueuil – the election must be held by next May, that is to say at most six months after the vacancy of the position of deputy. However, no date has yet been announced by the CAQ, which wanted to reach after the holidays to hold the election.
The president of the CAQ, Sarah Beaumier, had been approached for a moment to get into the race.
The CAQ is the last party to position itself on the starting line. For his part, the leader of the Parti Québécois, Paul St-Pierre Plamondon, had toyed with the idea of running, but ultimately preferred to entrust this task to veteran Pierre Nantel, a former New Democrat MP and candidate for the Federal Green Party.
For their part, the Liberals are counting on a researcher and entrepreneur, Émilie Nollet; Solidaires are putting forward the candidacy of a former Bloc member, Shophika Vaithyanathasarma, and the Quebec Conservatives have confidence in actress Anne Casabonne, who recently joined Éric Duhaime’s political party because of her opposition to the sanitary measures.
The riding of Marie-Victorin is a traditional stronghold of the Parti Québécois which has not changed sides since 1985. It was notably the riding of Bernard Drainville.
Former MP Catherine Fournier took over in 2016 and narrowly won the election in 2018, facing just over 700 votes ahead of the CAQ. She had, however, left the party the following year to sit as an independent.