NDP hopes to turn Bourassa riding orange
Liberal stronghold in Montreal North up for grabs
QUEBEC — Tom Mulcair is fond of reminding reporters that Bourassa is basically a Liberal riding, and has been for years.
But, the New Democratic Party leader will add in the same breath, they said Outremont would always be Liberal red, too, and the NDP managed to grab it in a 2007 byelection.
On Monday, the NDP hopes to pull off another miracle of sorts by winning the Montreal North riding of Bourassa that was held by former Liberal MP Denis Coderre for 16 years in a row.
The byelection was called after Coderre’s decision to run for mayor of Montreal.
It is one of four federal byelections being held on the same day in Canada. Voters will also go to the polls in Toronto Centre, and the Manitoba ridings of BrandonSouris and Provencher.
And while some outside analysts have described the byelections as a test for Prime Minister Stephen Harper in the wake of the Senate scandal, on the streets of the Bourassa local issues rule.
In fact, as byelections go, this one has been downright nasty — and all-out war be-
“I can’t tell you how much I want to win. The race is hot.”
STéPHANE MORAILLE
tween Liberal candidate Emmanuel Dubourg, a former provincial MNA, and NDP candidate Stéphane Moraille, a lawyer better known as the lead singer in the band Bran Van 3000.
The Green Party had a star candidate in former hockey player Georges Laraque, but he had to drop out to address criminal fraud charges. He was replaced by Danny Polifroni.
Rida Mahmoud is running for the Conservatives, Daniel Duranleau for the Bloc Québécois and Serge Lavoie for the Rhinoceros Party.
But the race has really been between Dubourg and Moraille — both Haitian-born in a riding where immigrants make up one-third of the population.
The NDP is pulling out everything it can to win, while at the same time lowballing expectations. Bourassa is one of the few ridings that resisted the 2011 Orange Wave that sent 58 NDP MPs from Quebec to Ottawa.
“I can’t tell you how much I want to win,” Moraille said in an interview with The Gazette this week. The race “is hot.”
“We’ve made our mark on the riding and the temperature here is orange.”
One of the NDP’s tactics has been to portray Dubourg as a political opportunist who only wants to be in the House of Commons to fulfill personal ambitions.
To that end, the NDP launched an advertising campaign — billboards and a website — portraying him as a member of the gold-plated “Club Privilège Liberal.”
The campaign focuses on the fact Dubourg took a $100,000 severance allowance when he quit his seat in the National Assembly less than a year into his third mandate.
“I wouldn’t say nasty,” Moraille said. “But we established the fact Mr. Dubourg abandoned his voters in Viau (his old provincial riding).
“People here now are asking what is the nature of his commitment.”
Dubourg did not return calls despite The Gazette’s numerous attempts to reach him.
Late Friday afternoon, senior Liberals officials issued the following statement:
“We ran a positive campaign, focused on the concerns and priorities of the citizens of Bourassa. Meanwhile, the NDP conducted a divisive and negative campaign filled with personal attacks.”
When Duboug did address the severance issue in midcampaign, he said the money was a deferred salary awarded to departing MNAs to reorient their careers. He said he knows of no MNA who left and did not take the money.
And Liberals attacked Mulcair, the NDP leader, noting that he took a similar amount, $135,000, when he left provincial politics.
The NDP said the situations do not compare because Mulcair fulfilled a complete mandate while Dubourg broke a contract with voters in Viau. The party said it shows just how much the Liberals take voters for granted.
“The Liberals thought they would get a free ride,” said NDP official David Patry.
Moraille and Dubourg have had plenty of backup from their party leaders. With a last visit to the riding Friday, Mulcair dropped in on Bourassa five times.
Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau came four times. Both leaders have held large rallies of supporters.
At one rally, Trudeau described the NDP campaign as vicious.
“The NDP is fuelling cynicism by choosing divisive and negative politics,” Trudeau said.
Besides attacking Dubourg, Moraille focused on local issues such as improving working conditions for taxi drivers. And the NDP cranked up pressure on the Conservatives to act on a recent decision by the Dominican Republic to strip citizenship from the children of Haitian migrants. Bourassa is home to the largest Haitian community in Canada.
Dubourg, on the other hand, has the advantage of the Coderre Liberal machine which, as witnessed in the recent municipal campaign, is alive and well.
His campaign was low key compared to the NDP’s.
But analysts agree the byelection is more significant because both Mulcair and Trudeau — Quebec-based politicians — want to show the country they can win in their home province.
Mulcair, in particular, needs to start showing that the NDP has put down roots. Even an increase in the NDP score there would be good news.
At last word, the Liberals were ahead in polls. A Forum Research poll conducted Nov. 5 showed Dubourg ahead with 56 per cent of support compared to Moraille with 19 per cent.