Aussant, Laporte vie for PQ nomination in Pointe-aux-Trembles
In what appears to set the stage for yet another round of internal feuding within the Parti Québécois, Jean-Martin Aussant, a former PQ MNA-turned-Option Nationale founder-turned-PQ star candidate, said on Tuesday he will run for the PQ in the east-end riding of Pointe-aux-Trembles.
Aussant’s decision is an apparent dismissal of a series of friendly warnings from certain quarters within the PQ and its membership, including former premier Bernard Landry and former party president Raymond Archambault, that at once welcomed him back into the fold but also told him to lay off running in the riding earmarked for Société Saint-Jean-Baptiste president Maxime Laporte.
After Aussant made his announcement, Laporte confirmed he will continue to pursue the Pointe-aux-Trembles candidacy for the PQ.
The warnings to Aussant peaked on Monday with the publication of an open letter signed by Landry, Archambault and 38 other PQ members from Pointeaux-Trembles that politely calls upon Aussant and his supporters to leave Pointe-aux-Trembles for the 30-year-old Laporte.
“We are persuaded,” wrote the signatories, “that Mr. Laporte’s personality, his remarkable experience given his young age, his vision of the future of our movement, his deep understanding of the linguistic and constitutional dossiers, his people skills and his ability to mobilize (voters) make him the ideal candidate.”
While Aussant’s decision to return to the PQ after quitting the party in 2011 because of his belief it was too soft on sovereignty was greeted with great pomp last week, finding the star candidate a sufficiently safe riding has become increasingly problematic.
They are not the only candidates staking claims to the riding in which the PQ’s Nicole Léger recently announced she would not run again.
François Legault, head of the Coalition Avenir Québec, presented his party’s candidate in Chantal Rouleau, mayor of the borough of Rivière-des-Prairies–Pointeaux-Trembles. Rouleau is a survivor of Équipe Denis Coderre from the November civic elections, one whom Legault believes has the potential to land the CAQ a seat on the island.
The riding of Pointe-aux-Trembles, created in 1988, has thus far elected only PQ MNAs.
Apart from the political warning shot fired by Landry and company, the would-be PQ candidate in the riding of Vachon (which will be vacated by incumbent Martine Ouellet, who currently sits as an independent MNA while leading the Bloc Québécois) as well as the PQ incumbent in Bourget have reportedly indicated they are not ready to stand down from their candidacies.
The Canadian Press with files from Postmedia News