The defeat of Justin Trudeau’s PLC in the Toronto–St. Paul’s is perhaps good news for… the Liberal Party of Quebec.
In the sense that it makes it much less interesting for some of its elected officials to try their luck at the (in their eyes) higher level, the federal level.
Example of Dubourg
In the past, the appeal of the PLC was so strong that it led Emmanuel Dubourg, deputy for Couillard, in August 2013, to abandon his seat of Viau in the National Assembly to pursue his political career at the federal level with the PLC.
From November 2013, Dubourg found himself in the House of Commons in the seat of Bourassa, for which Denis Coderre had been a deputy from 1997 to 2013. Dubourg was also easily re-elected there thereafter.
When he moved from the National Assembly to the federal government, Dubourg raised eyebrows: his resignation in full mandate had necessitated a partial resignation. In addition, he had received his transition allowance to campaign federally. Some evil tongues have since called him the “double pensioner”.
In November 2023, Dubourg announced that he was leaving politics.
Investiture
From that moment on, a race for his latent succession was triggered at the PLC. “The list of contenders is very long,” a county expert told me. “They will have no choice, it will take an “agreement”,” adds Denis Coderre, who says he knows three or four people interested, including his former municipal running mate, Chantal Rossi.
Other names often come up too, including Allen Alexandre, who worked in cabinets of the Trudeau government. And Abdelhaq Sari, councilor of the City of Montreal in Montreal North for Coderre’s former party, Ensemble Montreal.
At the beginning of the month, two names of current Liberal deputies in the National Assembly appeared in this list. The current deputy for Viau at Assnat, Frantz Benjamin, wanted to imitate “his friend Dubourg”, it was said. Benjamin also knows Justin Trudeau well from sharing the same riding territory. The other is Madwa-Nika Cadet, current deputy for Bourassa-Sauvé at Assnat.
But that was at the beginning of the month, so a lifetime ago. Before the Liberal thaw in Toronto–St. Paul’s. “Now, everything is possible, even a defeat in Bourassa,” opines Coderre.
Less interesting
Reached yesterday by telephone, Mme Cadet was aware of the rumor, but was saddened, “I don’t know where it came from!”… and swore that she would not be a candidate for any nomination in Bourassa, a federal riding.
As for Frantz Benjamin, he was less categorical: “For the moment, I would say that […] I devote myself entirely to my job as deputy for Viau.” A possible inauguration in Bourassa? “For the moment, I close the door. I will finish my mandate.”
The PLQ can therefore be reassured, it is unlikely that there will be resignations in the short term for the benefit of the PLC. The opposite is not excluded: in the PLQ, several hope for a candidacy for the leadership of the former boss of Mme Cadet, François-Philippe Champagne, for whom she has only good words.
