BROMONT – Despite the outing carried out by more than 80 up-and-coming activists to encourage Charles Milliard to enter the race for leadership of the PLQ, Frédéric Beauchemin considers that there are “young people in droves” who will be able to support him s he formalizes his candidacy.
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As the general council of his party opened in Bromont, the external vice-president of the youth commission of the Liberal Party of Quebec (CJPLQ), Nicolas Proulx, made a show of force by surrounding himself with several young people to publicly encourage the CEO of the Federation of Chambers of Commerce of Quebec (FCCQ), Charles Milliard, to try to succeed Dominique Anglade.
The son of former liberal minister Sébastien Proulx and 80 other young people also signed an open letter to this effect, in The Press.
Become the party of the economy again
“Mr. Milliard is a former member of the youth commission,” Mr. Proulx argued to journalists on Saturday morning.
PHOTO Marc-André Gagnon
“We think it’s essential to have someone who knows Quebec activism, knows liberal activism, who will be able to arrive here, be understood by liberal activists and then one day, we hope, run a liberal government,” continued the man who is also president of the liberal association for the riding of Jean-Talon, formerly represented by his father.
For these 81 young people, Mr. Milliard, a former pharmacist, has “the experience and credibility necessary for the Liberal Party to once again become the true party of the economy.”
“He would be a very good candidate,” briefly commented the Liberal MP for Pontiac, André Fortin. “To know that we have someone of this profile who is interested, someone who has this experience, who is young, dynamic, progressive, […] and which is obviously capable of rallying a lot of young people, […] I see that in a very good light,” said Mr. Fortin.
“My team is young,” replies Beauchemin
Asked by the media if he had just been taken by surprise by the young pro-Billiard, the liberal MP Frédéric Beauchemin, who also plans to be in the ranks of the leadership race, argued that he himself has an “economic profile”.
“I have over 32 years of experience in the capital market. I made a complete career on this,” underlined the former banker.
“We all have something to add to the leadership race. […] There are several candidates with an economic profile, others with less, others with more experience. So much the better. The objective is for us to have this debate of ideas,” commented the member for Marguerite-Bourgeoys.
“It would be fun if we had candidates from other sectors of the economy, other parts of the economy. But […] if Mr. Milliard is officially a candidate, so much the better,” added Mr. Beauchemin, who finds it “super important” that women are also in the race, which must begin in January 2025.
If he ever formalizes his own candidacy, Mr. Beauchemin assures that he will also be supported by young people, of whom Mr. Milliard does not have a monopoly, according to his calculations.
” Listen. There are 1.1 million young people between 16 and 25 years old in Quebec. If we apply the percentage we got in the last survey, saying that these people can be liberal, that’s 185,000. There are plenty of young people for everyone,” said Mr. Beauchemin.
“My team is young people,” he stressed. I have surrounded myself with young people from the start. I have lots of young people on my team, from all over Quebec, who support me. »
