DeSousa’s bid for Liberal nod shot down by party — again
St-Laurent borough mayor Alan DeSousa has seen his bid to become the federal Liberal candidate in the riding of St-Laurent shot down for good.
His appeal to the party to rethink its decision barring him from seeking the nomination was rejected Thursday with as little explanation as the original decision.
“There’s nothing left to do,” DeSousa told the Montreal Gazette on Friday. “It’s the Liberal party that made that decision ... they don’t have to give reasons. They don’t have to do anything.
“At the end of the day, my name will not be on the ballot, the hundreds of people who signed up wanting to see my candidacy will not have a chance to check a box.”
DeSousa learned Monday his candidacy was rejected by the Liberals, who provided him with no explanation.
DeSousa being frozen out of the nomination process in St-Laurent, a riding vacated by the resignation of longtime MP Stéphane Dion, coincides with a nomination controversy in the Ontario riding of Markham-Thornhill, another Liberal stronghold due for a byelection April 3. In that riding, wouldbe candidate Juanita Nathan has withdrawn from the nomination process complaining it is “neither open nor fair.”
While previous Liberal administrations openly parachuted preferred candidates into safe ridings, the process was supposed to have ended with Justin Trudeau, who announced after winning the leadership of the party that nominations would be in the hands of local riding associations. However, this week’s events have led some observers — DeSousa among them — to question whether the process has actually changed.
“This story has gone national in terms of what’s been happening in other ridings and in terms of what the prime minister has been saying he believes in (versus) what has actually been happening,” DeSousa said.
Former Quebec Liberal MNA Yolande James and Marwah Rizqy, an economist who ran unsuccessfully for the Liberals in the 2015 election, have been recognized as candidates for the nomination.