CAQ to run a candidate in Marie-Victorin along with Quebec Solidaire

TROIS-RIVIÈRES -

The Coalition Avenir Quebec will put forward a candidate in the riding of Marie-Victorin, left vacant by the newly elected mayor of Longueuil.

Premier Francois Legault, who made the announcement this morning upon arrival at his party's general meeting in Trois-Rivieres, Que., says he'd given Parti Quebecois Leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon a week to state his intentions but contends his rival is twiddling his thumbs.

Legault says he might have respected the tradition that allows a new party leader to run uncontested in a given riding -- if Plamondon had stepped forward.

The PQ leader, who took the helm in October 2020, does not hold a seat in the National Assembly.

It currently falls to the party's parliamentary leader, Joel Arseneau, to hold Legault to account during question period.

Legault says the fact that Quebec Solidaire opted to run a candidate in Marie-Victorin also played into his decision to do the same.

The Liberals have said they planned to hold off on presenting a nominee if the other parties agreed to follow suit.

"We have decided that we will present a candidate -- probably a candidate -- in Marie-Victorin," Legault said Saturday.

He said the byelection in that riding will be held after Christmas, adding that he does not want to "impose on the people of Longueuil a third election in three months" following the federal and municipal campaigns.

The seat in Marie-Victorin became vacant last week after Catherine Fournier was elected mayor of Longueuil.

CAQ RESPONDS TO LEBEAUME

Legault and several of his ministers also took the opportunity to respond to the outgoing mayor of Quebec City, Regis Labeaume, who, the day before, called down the Quebec-Lévis tunnel project.

Labeaume posted a letter to the premier on social media, saying that the $10 billion project must go "beyond opinion and be based on scientific analysis."

The outgoing mayor said there are other ways to relieve traffic congestion from the South Shore.

In his last act as mayor, he invited the premier to "change his mind."

Labeaume's former right-hand man at City Hall, current Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Jonatan Julien, reacted to the letter by saying it showed the bitterness of the outgoing mayor.

"I understand that Mr. Labeaume is disappointed with the results of the last (municipal) election," he said. "He was someone with Marie-Josée Savard who was in Team Labeaume's suite."

As for Legault, he said he wasn't surprised by the outgoing mayor's exit.

"I've talked to him many times in private and I've always felt he didn't have much support," said Legault. "The majority of the citizens of Chaudière-Appalaches and Quebec City, well they are for the third link, he insisted. I work for the citizens, I do not work for Régis Labeaume."

For her part, Deputy Premier Geneviève Guilbault welcomed the election of Bruno Marchand and the beginning of a new era at Quebec City Hall. 

-- This report by The Canadian Press was first published in French on Nov. 13, 2021.