Advance polls open Sunday in 4 provincial byelections
Voters make their mark again, this time in byelections for new MNAs
QUEBEC So soon after Quebecers headed to the polls to elect a new federal government, voters in the Montreal, Laval, Beauce and North Shore regions are once again being solicited, this time to vote in new members of the National Assembly. In fact, byelection campaigns in four Quebec ridings are in full swing, with advance polling beginning Sunday and final voting set for Nov. 9. The byelections were made necessary after three Liberals and one Péquiste recently decided to quit politics, bringing the total number of MNAs who have left since September 2014 to nine. Here’s a look at the issues and candidates in each of the ridings.
Saint-Henri-Sainte-Anne: CAQ defector joins Liberals
The riding includes the Montreal neighbourhoods of Griffintown, Pointe- Saint-Charles, Saint-Henri, Petite Bourgogne and parts of Ville-Marie. Former Coalition Avenir Québec President Dominique Anglade, who defected from the party this month to run for the Liberals, says Saint-Henri-Sainte-Anne is diversified, with deep Liberal roots. “People understand the necessity to balance the budget and to do the exercise that the government is going through right now,” she said. “I don’t consider myself to be a defector ... the CAQ is no longer a coalition because the federalist movement, the liberal wing, no longer exists. I meet a lot of people who say ‘I was with the CAQ but now I’m back with the Liberals.’ ” Anglade faces Gabrielle Lemieux from the PQ and Louis-Philippe Boulanger from the CAQ. The riding has been Liberal for the past 21 years. Nicole Loiselle was MNA between 1994 and 2007. Marguerite Blais took over the job in 2007, and sat as MNA until 2015.
Fabre: Education a priority
Laval businesswoman Monique Sauvé is campaigning for the Liberals in Fabre. The riding that once belonged to sovereignist tenors, such as Bernard Landry and Joseph Facal, turned red in 2003 with the arrival of Michelle Courchesne, who was succeeded in 2012 by Gilles Ouimet. CAQ candidate and teacher Carla El- Ghandour said she thinks the Liberals will pay for their decision to make cuts in education. “They don’t know what is going on in schools, they don’t know what is going on in classrooms. I know. I’ve been seeing it. It has to stop. Kids need more services,” she said, adding many voters have told her they are concerned about the state of Quebec’s education system. ElGhandour said she also wants to help homeowners in flood-prone parts of Laval to more easily obtain permission to renovate their homes. The PQ candidate in Fabre is young Université de Montréal communications graduate Jibril Akaaboune Le François, who also believes voters will reject the Liberals’ so-called austerity-driven agenda.
Beauce-Sud: War of electoral signs
The riding, about 50 kilometres south of Quebec City, has always voted Liberal except in 2007-2008, when it briefly embraced Mario Dumont’s Action démocratique du Québec. Liberal political veteran Robert Dutil won back the seat in 2008, then again in 2012 and 2014. He recently announced his decision to return to the family business. Now, Paul Busque is trying to secure the riding for the Liberals. He faces the CAQ’s Tom Redmond and the PQ’s Renaud Fortier. The Liberal candidate made headlines this week, after his brother-in-law was seen destroying CAQ electoral signs on Radio-Canada. The signs, shaped like speech bubbles and placed just above Liberal ones, show messages such as “We’re not going to say it, but we’ll increase the QST.” CAQ Leader François Legault said his party’s signs are original: “What (Premier) Philippe Couillard is trying to do with the byelections is put them under the radar. What we want to do is talk about the issues. Yes, we will talk about education, yes we will talk about the QST, and yes we will talk about Mr. Couillard’s broken promises,” Legault said.
René-Lévesque: Social and economic challenges
The PQ has had this northern Quebec riding since 2003, but it could very well change hands come Nov. 9. René-Lévesque has swung in recent history from the Liberal party to the ADQ to the PQ, the most recent MNA being Marjolain Dufour, who quit last month for health reasons. PQ candidate Martin Ouellet said Dufour has been helping him on the campaign trail, and feedback from voters has been good, but victory cannot be taken for granted. “Voters in this region talk to me about economic development,” he said from BaieComeau. Ouellet added the riding includes two First Nations communities, Pessamit and Essipit, which are deeply troubled by allegations Sûreté du Québec officers physically and sexually abused aboriginal women, near the town of Val-d’Or. “It is infinitely sad to hear that these women were allegedly abused by an authority which needed to protect them,” he said. Ouellet faces the Liberals’ Karine Otis and the CAQ’s Dave Savard.