CAQ candidate says West Islanders no longer ‘condemned’ to vote Liberal
The newly minted Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ) candidate for Robert-Baldwin is asking West Island voters to give François Legault and his party a chance to govern Quebec for the next four years.
“For decades, Quebecers from the West Island have been condemned to choose the Liberal Party,” said Laura Azéroual, a 28-year-old Dollard-des- Ormeaux resident who is running in her first election.
“I deeply believe that the CAQ represents real change. I wish to offer a real alternative to the citizens of Robert-Baldwin. I want to tell them that they do not have one choice. There is the CAQ now, the only alternative to the Liberals.”
Azéroual, “born and raised and still living in the West Island,” admits convincing longtime Liberal voters to switch party allegiances will take some work, but she wants them to at least give the CAQ one kick at the can.
“What’s the worst-case scenario? To give us a chance for four years? They’ve been under a Liberal government for 15 years. So I’ll tell them, for four years, give us a try. And then if you’re not happy with the outcome, you can go back to the Liberals. That’s it.”
She is aware that some voters still see Legault, a former PartiQuébécois minister, as a separatist in wolf ’s clothing, even though he has repeatedly said the CAQ would not hold a sovereignty referendum if it forms the next government after the Oct. 1 provincial election.
“François Legault said there will never be another referendum. There is some work to do (getting that message across), but it’s better than before.”
Azéroual said the CAQ’s message of moving away from the polarizing national debate is starting to sink in, even in the Liberal fortress of western Montreal. She is finding traditional Liberal voters more receptive to the idea of voting differently.
“The response I’m getting is more positive. I thought it was going to be worse than that. Since François Legault has come out many, many times and repeated himself on that subject, they got the message.
But there is still some work to do in the West Island. “Some residents still think the CAQ is the PQ,” she said.
Azéroual is undaunted by the task of trying to unseat Liberal heavyweight Carlos Leitão, the province’s finance minister, in Robert-Baldwin.
“If I don’t face him, someone else will. Might as well do it,” she said.
“Anyway, I’m not looking to run my campaign by badmouthing him. So I’m not going to concentrate on Leitão, the minister of finance, with all due respect.
“I’ll just concentrate on my campaign on what I bring to the table and what the CAQ platform has to offer. And that’s it, hope for the best. We’re not here to start wars, or this or that, because that doesn’t lead to anything good.”
Azéroual, who still lives at home in Dollard, is a Sephardic Jew whose parents immigrated to Canada from Morocco 43 years ago.
She holds a certificate in law and a political science degree from Université de Montréal and has spent much of the past year working for the CAQ at the National Assembly.
Azéroual has high praise for the CAQ leader. “François Legault has an amazing knowledge on the economy.” She also described him as “easy going, super down-toearth, a genuine person.”
“So when I was asked to run in Robert-Baldwin, it was a nobrainer.”
Although the CAQ is riding atop recent polls, she added: “The real poll is Oct. 1.”