Arthabaska by-election: Chantale Marchand will be PLQ candidate

All parties now have their candidates for the Arthabaska-L’Érable by-election. On Friday, the Quebec Liberal Party (PLQ) announced that it had set its sights on Chantale Marchand.

Before taking the plunge as a candidate, Marchand was Executive Director of the Fondation de l’Ermitage, an organization dedicated to improving the quality of life of seniors.

She was also responsible for communications at the Victoriaville Economic Development Corporation, and worked as a political attaché for Liberal MP Claude Bachand.

“In an increasingly unstable world, where polarized discourse takes up too much space, our region (…) needs a moderate voice,” she pleaded at a press conference in Victoriaville on Friday.

She said she was proud to join a party that she believes represents “dialogue, inclusion, stability, social equity and responsible economic development”.

The PLQ is the last of the parties represented in the National Assembly to nominate a candidate for the Aug. 11 by-election.

Quebec Liberal leader Pablo Rodriguez denied that he was late to the race. “Ms. Marchand has been here for 40 years. She arrived before the others. She’s the one who says hello to them,” he said at a press briefing.

The race is well underway

For several weeks now, Quebec Conservative Party leader Éric Duhaime and former Radio-Canada host Alex Boissonneault, representing the Parti québécois (PQ), have been locked in a fierce battle.

According to poll aggregator Qc125, the Conservatives and PQ are tied, far ahead of the other parties.

The pressure is particularly strong on Duhaime, who is attempting to enter the National Assembly. In the last general election, his party garnered 13 per cent of the popular vote, without winning a single seat.

On Friday, Duhaime went on the offensive, accusing the PQ of being “out of touch with reality by proposing a third referendum” in the midst of a “tariff war” with the United States.

“This is not the time to argue with the rest of Canada. This is the time to unite with our main economic partner,” he said in a press release.

“Éric Duhaime, like François Legault, is desperately clinging to the fear of a popular consultation,” Boissonneault immediately retorted in a message sent to The Canadian Press.

“The experience of Jean-Talon and Terrebonne indicates that this kind of strategy doesn’t necessarily work,” he added, referring to the last two by-elections won by the PQ.

The Coalition avenir Québec (CAQ) is running Keven Brasseur, ex-president of its youth wing, while Pascale Fortin, a healthcare worker, is running for Québec solidaire (QS).

People are fed up with the CAQ, says Rodriguez

Meanwhile, the Legault government’s decision to call the by-election in the middle of summer has been strongly criticized by the other parties, who fear that voter turnout will be famously low.

Earlier this week, St-Pierre Plamondon and Duhaime described Premier François Legault’s decision as extremely “cynical”.

Rodriguez added to this on Friday. “Mr. Legault wants this to go unnoticed,” he said.

“People are turning the page on this government, which has squandered public funds, which has caused our hospitals to collapse. (…) He wants to pass this under the radar.

“We’re going to remind him of his failures, but we also want to remind Quebecers of what we would do,” he added.

The by-election in Arthabaska-L’Érable, in the Centre-du-Québec region, is aimed at finding a successor to Eric Lefebvre, who was elected as a Conservative MP during the federal election in April.

–This report by La Presse Canadienne was translated by CityNews