As the Young Liberals’ congress opens on Saturday, The Canadian Press learned that the number of members of the Quebec Liberal Party (PLQ) aged 16 to 25 is anemic.
The outgoing president of the party’s youth wing, Lina Yunes, speaks of 500 young members at present. “We are in an era where political involvement is not a priority for young people,” she maintains in an interview with The Canadian Press.
At the same time, she assures that there has been an increase in young members in the PLQ in recent months and that the leadership will attract others. The Liberal youth wing brings together party members aged 16 to 25.
However, two liberal sources to whom The Canadian Press granted anonymity because they were not authorized to speak on the subject, said the number of young members in good standing is likely to be below 350.
The party did not want to go into figures. “The Quebec Liberal Party has a policy of not confirming the number of its members. We are on the eve of a leadership race that will most certainly have positive effects. This is an important step in bringing new young and old members from across Quebec into our political party,” said the party’s president, Rafael Primeau-Ferraro, in writing.
In any case, the number of young members is very low for the PLQ, particularly if we compare it to what we saw in the 1990s for example. A text by The Canadian Press published in 1994 indicates that the PLQ Youth Commission wanted to increase its number of members from “7,000 to 12,000”.
In an open letter published in The Press In 1998, the president of the PLQ Youth Commission at the time, Jonathan Sauvé, wrote that his body had “10,000 members.”
More recently, in 2016, a report written by the then president of the PLQ’s National Political Commission, Jérôme Turcotte, noted a significant decline in the number of party members—all ages combined. He wrote in particular that the PLQ lost 15,381 members between June 2014 and December 2015. Membership therefore fell from 52,401 to 37,020. Jérôme Turcotte also indicated that only 8% of the activist base is under 35.
Last January, the party’s president, Rafael Primeau-Ferraro, said that the number of members – regardless of age – was between 15,000 and 20,000.
Young people can make a difference in the race
Since the PLQ must choose a new leader in 2025 and young members account for 33% of the votes in a leadership race, candidates who want to succeed Dominique Anglade will have to work hard to recruit new members aged 16 to 25.
The rules for the leadership race state that “candidates must collect the signatures of 750 members in good standing from at least 70 counties and 12 regions, of whom at least 350 must be new members.”
Potential candidates have already sought to woo young Liberals. The former president and CEO of the Fédération des chambres de commerce du Québec (FCCQ), Charles Milliard, received the support of 81 young members and supporters of the PLQ last May. Also, two members of the executive of the Commission-Jeunesse announced that they would leave their positions to support him.
A few days earlier, three other members of the executive — including Lina Yunes — resigned to support the member for Marguerite-Bourgeoys, Frédéric Beauchemin.
The two men are not yet officially candidates, unlike the former mayor of Montreal Denis Coderre who launched last June.
A few days ago, several media outlets reported that federal Liberal Minister Pablo Rodriguez was considering running to succeed Dominique Anglade.
The mayor of Victoriaville, Antoine Tardif, is also in demand for the race and he has not ruled out getting involved.
The leadership will begin in January 2025. Dominique Anglade’s successor will be chosen in the summer of that same year.
The next leader of the PLQ will have a lot to do to rebuild his party. His support rate among francophones is meager: 6% according to the latest Léger polls.