Quebec calls byelection in Saint-Henri-Sainte-Anne riding, to replace Dominique Anglade who resigned
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Posted February 6, 2023 9:01 am.
Last Updated February 6, 2023 6:33 pm.
Premier François Legault called a byelection in the Saint-Henri-Sainte-Anne riding, voters of the Sud-Ouest borough head to the polls March 13.
The seat was left empty when former Liberal leader Dominique Anglade stepped down last December – announcing her resignation as both party leader and MNA for the riding.
Monday morning, the Liberals announced Christopher Baenninger as their new candidate for the riding. He was defeated by Québec solidaire (QS) co-spokesperson Manon Massé in the riding of Sainte-Marie–Saint-Jacques in the last election.
“It would be very arrogant to say job well done. And that’s it. We’re just getting started,” said Baenninger at a press conference where he was introduced. “I don’t like just to talk to the different communities to go after their vote. I’m just going to level with the voter.”
“I would say that, you know, French is important and everybody should be given better access to learn French. On the other hand, I said, like I said before, we’re not going to punish the people who don’t speak French after six months. And more specifically to your question, you know, I voted against Bill 96. We voted against Bill 96,” added the Liberal candidate. “We’re always looking at challenges and we’re not scared of challenges.”
QS will be running the same candidate – immigration lawyer Guillaume Cliche-Rivard. He came in second place to Anglade in the last provincial election, receiving 28 per cent of the votes. Anglade won with 36 per cent support.
“What’s important for the people is the housing crisis. What’s important for the people of Saint-Henri is the environmental crisis. We’re going to keep on speaking about this as we’re going to keep on making sure that people’s priorities are represented at the National Assembly,” said Cliche-Rivard.
“It’s an interesting choice, because he lost to the hero of Québec solidaire Manon Masse, who’s going to definitely be giving Mr. Cliche-Rivard a hand on the ground, visiting all through his party to help him with the campaign. So it’s going to spark that whole he tried to defeat me once and it didn’t work. And now he’s going to lose again to another one of our great qualified candidates,” said political analyst Karim Boulos, who sees it as a critical race for the Liberals and QS and thinks the later will take the seat.
“I think it’s going to it’s going to be a little bit difficult for Mr. Baenninger, to put it simply because Québec Solidaire is very present, very on the ground. Mr. Cliche-Rivard has been on the ground since the campaign. I don’t think he ever really stopped campaigning. He was visible. He was walking the streets of Griffintown, he was walking through parts of Pointe-Saint-Charles and just getting to know people.”
“The colour of the government will not change on March 13. So the ballot question will be very simple: who will do the best job to be the opposition in front of François Legault?” asked Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois, co-spokesperson, Québec solidaire.
#WATCH: The Quebec Liberal Party announced Christopher Baenninger as its candidate for Saint-Henri-Sainte-Anne Monday morning.
This comes almost three months after former party leader and riding representative, Dominique Anglade, announced her resignation. pic.twitter.com/19aItaDjsd
— CityNews Montreal (@CityNewsMTL) February 6, 2023
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The Coalition Avenir Québec will be running Victor Pelletier, the 21-year-old was elected as the party’s youth wing president last year.
The Parti Québécois and the Parti Conservateur du Québec have not announced their candidates for the riding.
“It’s it’s a critical seat, one, it’s the former leaders seat. It’s the seat, you know, with the departure of Marie-Claude Nichols. I think that the the official opposition is is at stake. And so it’s a very critical seat,” added Boulos. “It’s critical for both Québec solidaire would the obtain official party status, which is a big deal, increased funding, increased access, more questions in the National Assembly. It would be a very positive step for Québec solidaire So they’re going to put everything they have in it.”
“This matters a lot for the Liberals. It’s a test one for Mr. Tanguay. Can he rally the troops? Can he rally the machine, the Liberal machine, to support their candidate and is there life after Dominique.”
“We’re not finished the job. We’re getting started and we’re building on our strengths. But there’s a lot of work to do and I’m looking forward to go door-to-door to meet the community in person One by one, and listening to their their challenges and leveling with them,” said Baenninger. “I’m also a creative guy and I’m a guy who comes up with solutions creative within the framework of our values. Right? But creative nevertheless.”
The Liberal candidate thinks that when people get to know him, they’ll feel that he really cares about their problems. “All my life I’ve been about, you know, just caring for people’s problems, for helping people. And that’s what I’m here to do, you know? And I think people will feel it. They’ll know it. You know, we’re we’re in an emotional province in Quebec. We’re not scared of emotions. As you can see, I let myself go a little too much. And, you know, and, you know, if you level with people and you listen to them, but you also need serious a serious platform and serious ideas,” explained Baenninger getting emotional. “You know, you have to come with some concrete solutions here and we’ve got them and I’m confident that we’ve got them.”
“The Liberals have to show it and prove that they are still relevant. They’re the oldest party in the province, still in existence today. And they are the party of the province. They’re the centrist, the balanced party. And I think that this is going to be a test for for Mr. Tanguay how well he can communicate that message, because there are people out there with liberals values who may be voting for a party other than the liberals, but still have liberal values,” said Boulos. “And that’s really important. And coming back to those values and reminding people what the Liberal Party stood for and that the candidates all stand behind, a singular message for Quebec is going to be important and I don’t know how that’s going to be handled, but that’s really something that the party needs to be discussing right now.”