For most Dawson College students, exams are among their biggest problems. For Zachary Williams, it’s trying to figure out how to unseat Quebec Finance Minister Carlos Leitao in October’s provincial election.
Williams is representing Quebec Solidaire in the West Island riding of Robert-Baldwin.
“I guess I’m a bit of a rare breed,” said Williams. “I’m a Quebec Solidaire member that lives in the West Island.”
Home to approximately 55,000 voters, the riding covers Dollard-Des-Ormeaux and a portion of Pierrefonds. The area is a longtime stronghold for the Liberals, which hasn’t lost an election in the riding since 1966. Williams, an Anglophone and a separatist, said he knows it’s a tall order to defeat Leitao.
“It’s the summer right now and it seems like the election is far away, but it’s really creeping up on us now,” he said. “Now is kind of crunch time in a sense.”
During the next few months, Williams said he hopes to spread word of his platform of improving public transport, increasing access to affordable housing and doing a better job of responding to floods.
While Leitao’s budgets have proven popular with voters, Williams said he doesn’t believe the numbers will work to his opponent’s advantage.
“He did all the budgets the last four years,” he said. “He’s the one that made the population of Quebec suffer for four years of austerity and four years of cuts under his leadership. I really want to stand up for (the province).”
