Couillard reassures Poëti he’ll be ’18 candidate
Premier Philippe Couillard has reassured Robert Poëti he will be the candidate in 2018 in the riding of Marguerite-Bourgeoys.
Poëti confirmed Wednesday he had spoken to Couillard in the wake of a Radio-Canada report the Liberals were planning to dump him and offer the riding to Montreal police union chief Yves Francoeur.
The party has denied having any plans to replace him even though he is the second Liberal in two weeks to hear such tales about their future prospects.
Francoeur has also confirmed he informed Poëti of the manoeuvring behind his back at a dinner in March in Quebec City.
Poëti later raised the story with Couillard who said it was the first he had heard of it.
“I had already had this discussion with the premier,” Poëti said Wednesday, emerging from a Liberal caucus meeting. “Yes, yesterday he confirmed what he had already told me: that he wants to do the next campaign with me.
“There was never any doubt in his mind that I wouldn’t be a candidate.”
Poëti said he is more concerned about what citizens, in and outside his riding say, and they all want him to stay.
He said he’s sure the storm will pass.
“In politics, there can be strong winds, storms and whirlwinds, but adversity does not scare me,” he said.
Meanwhile, Parti Québécois leader Jean-François Lisée indicated he has not excluded the idea of Francoeur running for the PQ in 2018.
“I am not closing the door,” Lisée said at a separate news conference. “But for the moment, he has to maintain his independence while investigations advance. But he is a person who, as we have seen, has guts and credibility and is a person with qualities.”
Francoeur has not commented on reports he’s interested in politics despite saying he rejected the Liberal’s offer “on the spot.”