Hivon says she won’t seek PQ leadership

Joliette MNA cites family as reason for not running

Joliette MNA Véronique Hivon will not seek the leadership of the struggling Parti Québécois.

In a message posted on her Facebook page Tuesday, Hivon, who was for a time deputy leader of the party and top potential candidate, said the time is not right for her to make a run for the job.

“It is clearly a big decision, but the conditions are simply not right for me to launch at this moment,” Hivon wrote. “It is (a) decision which had to be made and the only one I could take in all serenity.”

Hivon, 49, added she decided her family needs her and she wants to be there for them. The pace of being leader would impede that.

“I am in a situation where my family needs me more than when I started in politics and where I need to be there for it,” Hivon said without elaborating.

She went on to say she wanted to make her intentions clear to quash speculation. The party will not pick its new leader until 2020.

“Even if the race is not before 2020, I think it is important to put the cards on the table for my colleagues and members of the PQ,” she wrote. “This seems even more important given the fact I sit on the working committee preparing the next convention as well as on the PQ’s executive.”

The MNA for Joliette since 2008, Hivon ran for the PQ leadership in 2016 following the resignation of Pierre Karl Péladeau. Three months into the campaign, she pulled out of the race for health reasons.

The party has been without a permanent leader since October 2018 when leader Jean-François Lisée quit in the wake of the PQ’s massive electoral defeat, the worst ever in the party’s history.

It only managed to garner 17 per cent of the vote.

It is down to nine MNAs in the National Assembly.

The Quebec Liberals are also without a permanent leader. Candidates are not lining up for either party.

With Hivon gone, one of the few still interested is Jonquière MNA Sylvain Gaudreault.

Highly respected, Hivon was seen as someone who could bring the party back from the brink.

Reaction to Hivon’s decision was immediate, with interim PQ leader Pascal Bérubé saying his colleague has made a difficult decision motivated by family reasons.

He said he understands Hivon’s decision. He said he is happy she will remain a member of the PQ caucus.