(Gatineau) Dominique Anglade defines his adversary in Outaouais: the Coalition avenir Québec (CAQ). François Legault’s troops almost wiped out the Quebec Liberal Party (PLQ) from the region in 2018. And ten days before the election, the lights are yellow in the last two Liberal strongholds.
Posted at 1:28 p.m.
“The CAQ,” replies tit for tat the Liberal leader when asked who her opponent is in the Outaouais. “The opponent is François Legault. For us, the desire is to truly represent the Outaouais region in the National Assembly. The Outaouais has been neglected in the last four years, the health and economic results show it,” argued Ms.me England.
After ten days spent in the metropolis, where several castles are threatened, the leader of the PLQ set sail on Friday for the last Liberal strongholds outside Greater Montreal. She participated Friday evening in an activist rally – which brought together around fifty people – in a bar in Gatineau (Chapleau). Saturday morning, she took advantage of a walkabout in the county of Hull.
This is the second time that M.me Anglade has been going to the Outaouais since the start of the campaign.
The fight is particularly tough in Hull where outgoing MP Maryse Gaudreault, first elected in 2008, is seeking a new mandate. According to the Qc125 site, this liberal stronghold could well pass into the hands of the CAQ on October 3. The projection site gives 32% of the voting intentions to the formation of François Legault and 23% to the Liberals, as of September 23.
Another liberal castle, Pontiac also flashes on the radar of the liberals. The CAQ would warm up the Liberal troops in this riding, according to Qc125. The projections give 39% to the PLQ, while the CAQ is behind at 30% in the voting intentions, according to the poll aggregator.
In 2018, the CAQ had achieved a historic breakthrough in the Outaouais by winning three of the five ridings in the region (Chapleau, Papineau and Gatineau), while Pontiac and Hull resisted.
“We had almost [un raz-de-marée caquiste] during the last election,” admits Mme Gaudreault. “I think it has stabilized since then, people wanted to change, to try another political formation. These days I hear people who are uncertain [dans leur choix] “, she added in a press scrum. According to her, the words of François Legault did not pass in his constituency.
“Mr. Legault’s comments about social cohesion really bothered them. There are a lot of people from cultural communities, they are well integrated, they speak French, they contribute to our economy and this is not at all the reality that Mr. Legault would have us believe, ”unchecked Ms.me Gaudreault.
“Planet Ottawa”
According to her, the residents of the Outaouais “vibrate a little more to the rhythm of Ottawa and the federalist value is still very present” in the border region with Ontario.
We have a particular region here with our proximity to Ottawa. I always say jokingly, at home, it’s planet Ottawa, it’s not planet Quebec.
Maryse Gaudreault, outgoing MP and Liberal candidate in Hull
The outgoing MP for Pontiac, André Fortin, is also asking François Legault to clarify the substance of his thoughts on the question of federalism. During the televised debate on Radio-Canada, the leader of the CAQ refused to answer whether he would vote “Yes” in a possible referendum on Quebec independence.
“It shows who he is politically, it shows his political evolution, it shows people if he still has that PQ fiber that he has always carried with him. The fact that he was not able to answer, that he did not want to answer in public, shows very clearly that there is still something he does not dare to say to Quebecers “, maintained Mr. Fortin.
During the first confrontation between the leaders at TVA, he had affirmed that the PLQ no longer had the “monopoly of being against sovereignty”.
Popularity deficit
The outgoing MP, Maryse Gaudreault, admits that her leader still suffers from a lack of popularity attributable in part to the place occupied by the pandemic for two years. “People who are in the metro-work-sleep, they may not know Mme Anglade as they have discovered her over the past few days. An election campaign is also that,” she said. “Thirty-six days is not long” to make themselves known to the general public, underlined Mme Gaudreault.