Montreal riding next test for Trudeau
Ottawa • With Eve Adams having lost her bid to represent the Liberals in October’s federal election, attention is turning to another nomination battle involving a high-profile candidate with links to leader Justin Trudeau.
The Liberal nomination race in Ahuntsic-Cartierville, a new riding in north Montreal, has featured plenty of drama since Melanie Joly decided to throw her hat into the ring this past February.
Best known for coming out of nowhere to place second in Montreal’s 2013 mayoral race, the 36-year-old lawyer and businesswoman helped with Trudeau’s Liberal leadership campaign and has known him and his family for years.
Joly’s late entrance prompted much handwringing from the other seven candidates, who publicly called on the party to respect Trudeau’s promise not to interfere in nominations before asking in April that a nomination meeting be held sooner rather than later.
But Ahuntsic-Cartierville remains one of the few ridings across the country where there is no Liberal chosen to represent the party in the election. At the same time, the number of candidates has dwindled from eight to four. At least one blamed his withdrawal on the delay holding a nomination meeting.
Anthony Di Carlo said he had expected to know by the end of June whether he was the candidate, at which point he would have the rest of the summer to campaign against incumbent MP Maria Mourani, a former Independent who is now running for the NDP. But with the nomination still not decided and himself a new father, the prospects of successfully fighting Mourani seemed slim.
“I was the first candidate involved in the race,” he said. “It was over two years that my team and I were going at it. But it wouldn’t be responsible knowing I wouldn’t be able to give 110 per cent to a last-minute campaign where I’d have to do both a nomination and a general election.”
Liberal party spokesman Olivier Duchesneau noted the Grits are leading the Conservatives and NDP in terms of nominated candidates, with only about 40 remaining. He said the delay in Ahuntsic-Cartierville was because of logistical issues, and had nothing to do with Joly.
Trudeau promised two years ago to hold open nominations for all Liberal candidates. However, he also retains the exclusive power to appoint candidates as he sees fit. With a federal election call only weeks away, would he use that power to appoint Joly or someone else in AhuntsicCartierville?
Grace Batchoun, one of the three people still facing off against Joly for the nomination, refused to entertain that thought. While she said the delay in a nomination meeting “has not been a wise move,” she said she firmly believed a meeting would be called soon. “For me, I’m going on what Mr. Trudeau said, that he wants to have open and just nominations,” Batchoun said. “And that’s the reason why I entered the race.”
Joly ’s campaign spokesman, Francois Fournier, said the former Montreal mayoral candidate has not received any special treatment from Trudeau’s campaign or the Liberal party. He said the nomination-meeting delay will help Joly sign up more new Liberal members, but it will help the other candidates as well.
“(Trudeau) is not going for one candidate or another,” Fournier said. “Maybe some people are saying this because Melanie Joly is a high-profile candidate and yes, she’s been involved in Justin Trudeau’s leadership campaign. But apart from that, I can guarantee you we’re respecting the open nomination procedure.”