(Terrebonne) The Parti Québécois needs a member “ready on day 1” hence the decision to ignore the recommendation of the local association and present the president of the party in the by-election in Terrebonne.
Posted at 11:52 a.m.
Updated at 12:30 p.m.
This is what PQ leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon explained, alongside his close friend and new candidate, Catherine Gentilcore, during a press conference Wednesday morning in Terrebonne.
“There were several very good candidates who were considered, but one of the criteria that weighed heavily was: who among these candidates had the best experience and understanding of the party to act as an MP from day 1,” he said. -he said.
He thus defended the choice of Catherine Gentilcore, this relative originally from Repentigny and business leader in the digital technologies sector, rather than the candidate recommended by the local association, Geneviève Couture, representative of the party in Terrebonne during the 2022 elections.
The reality for MPs “is that we are constantly in press briefings, so it requires detailed knowledge of positions”, also indicated Paul St-Pierre, emphasizing that Catherine Gentilcore had acquired this knowledge through her work as president of the PQ.
In the event of her election, the latter said she would like to “be a strong feminist voice in the National Assembly”. She attacked “the obvious drift in the management of the CAQ” and demanded that Quebecers under the age of 50 have the chance to express their views on the question of sovereignty.
Read the article “Perilous landing of the PQ president in Terrebonne”
The local association rallies
Absent at the announcement due to “professional obligations,” Geneviève Couture finally reacted on social networks Wednesday by reiterating her confidence in the leader of the PQ.
“I want to confirm that I had ambitions, I am a woman of business and action, the opposite would have been surprising and I have the constituency at heart,” she adds, however.
Members of the local PQ executive in Terrebonne also support the leader’s choice. “ [Catherine Gentilcore] is used to pressure from the party, the media […] It takes someone who is used to that,” argued one of them, activist Mikaël Lalonde.
” We [ce qu’on souhaitait] it was the best candidacy”, added, alongside her, Johanne Michaud, affirming that Geneviève Couture “had been consulted and is on board”.
Paul St-Pierre Plamondon is making it “a personal matter” to nominate the unsuccessful candidate in a “victorious” county in the next general election, if she expresses the wish.
Trigger call
According to the electoral projections site Qc125, the PQ would be in the lead in Terrebonne with 41% of voting intentions, compared to 28% for the CAQ. In 2022, Pierre Fitzgibbon won the constituency hands down (49.4%). Geneviève Couture obtained second position (18.9%).
However, the sovereignist party now has the wind in its sails and obtained 35% of voting intentions according to a Léger-The Journal-VAT published on Wednesday. Meanwhile, popular support for the Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ) continues to fall and has now reached its lowest level in eight years.
Prime Minister François Legault has still not called the by-election in Terrebonne. The law requires him to do so within six months of Mr. Fitzgibbon’s resignation, which occurred in September, or by the beginning of March.
Paul St-Pierre Plamondon urged him to do so on Wednesday, during his council of ministers, the last opportunity for the vote to take place before Christmas, he says. To do otherwise would be “a lack of respect” for the citizens of Terrebonne, he insists, who have been without a deputy for ten weeks.
The Prime Minister’s office, however, did not want to advance the date of the calling of this by-election. “We will make the announcement in due course,” it says.
The CAQ has not yet announced its candidate. The Liberal Party and Québec Solidaire did it; These are respectively Virginie Bouchard – president of the Lanaudière Regional Council of the PLQ – and Nadia Poirier – who was a candidate in 2022.
With Tommy Chouinard, La Presse
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