The organizers of the pre-sessional caucus of the Liberal Party of Quebec had ordered elected officials not to go to a partisan activity in Estrie where the leadership candidates will be present on Tuesday, before changing their minds.
According to our information, there was bickering among the Liberal troops at the dawn of the pre-sessional caucus. Meeting in Orford in Estrie, the Liberal elected officials did not invite party president Rafael P. Ferraro, as tradition dictates.
At no time during the caucus will the party take stock of the leadership race and the affairs of the PLQ. The organizers confirm that they want to focus on the issues that will fuel the debates in the National Assembly this winter.
They also wanted to make a separation, “draw a line in the sand”, between partisan activities linked to the leadership race and the work of elected officials in the National Assembly, it is said behind the scenes.
“The pre-sessional caucus is an opportunity for elected officials to prepare parliamentary work (…) These days will be devoted to strategic discussions which will allow us to define and present our priorities as the official opposition in Quebec” , declared Catherine Dostie, the political communications advisor for the parliamentary wing of the official opposition, specifying that activists, deputies and candidates will have several opportunities to gather to discuss the race.
The president of the PLQ did not want to answer our questions.
Big discomfort
However, according to our sources, there is great unease among members, especially since no activist cocktail was organized during the pre-sessional caucus.
This is another tradition that always takes place before the leader’s dinner with the elected representatives of the caucus. The slogan would also come from the organizers, to the great dismay of the Estrie Regional Council.
-In the office of the leader of the official opposition, it is argued that the cocktail was not organized because of the rules affecting the leadership race.
A decision which would have led to a lot of “frustration” among activists and elected officials. Thus, in parallel with the caucus, the liberal volunteers from Estrie decided to organize an evening in a St-Hubert restaurant, this Tuesday evening, in the presence of the leadership candidates and the president of the PLQ.
The deputies were ordered not to go there in order to attend the leader’s dinner which took place at the same time according to the schedule, which is confirmed by several sources at our Parliamentary Office.
However, several of them who have already given their support to candidates wanted to appear at the activist evening.
For its part, the organization assures that it never asked elected officials not to attend the evening. Moreover, elected officials learned last night that they will finally be able to go to the activist rally, before heading to the dinner of interim leader Marc Tanguay which will take place later.
A shuttle will even be made available to the group.
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