Lévis Town Hall: one more step for Steven Blaney

Former conservative minister Steven Blaney took a further step towards possibly submitting his candidacy for mayor of Lévis on Monday morning, by reserving the name of a municipal political party.

The news, first reported by FM93, was confirmed by the Director General of Elections of Quebec (DGEQ) late in the afternoon. He specified that he had received a request to reserve the name for “Prospérité Lévis: Équipe Steven Blaney”.

Steven Blaney, 59, was first elected for the Conservative Party of Canada to the House of Commons in 2006. He was re-elected in 2008, 2011, 2015 and 2019. He was not a candidate in the federal election from September 2021.

As the DGEQ explains, reserving a name is not equivalent to requesting authorization to found a party. The request simply ensures that no one else can be authorized under this name for a period of six months.

“Some use this process while recruiting members. Indeed, in a city the size of Lévis (100,000 inhabitants or more), a minimum number of 100 members is required by law to obtain authorization,” explains spokesperson Julie St-Arnaud-Drolet.

Remember that in an interview given to the daily The Sun last March, the former member of Parliament for Bellechasse–Les Etchemins–Lévis confirmed that he was beginning “serious reflection” on a possible candidacy.

For his part, the mayor of Lévis, Gilles Lehouillier, still leaves doubt about the rest of his political career while he plans to announce whether he will be a candidate again at the beginning of 2025.