MONTREAL -- The Quebec Liberal leadership race is just a day old but that didn’t stop the first two candidates from taking shots at each other on Sunday.
On day two of the party’s general council meeting, Drummondville Mayor Alexandre Cusson said opponent Dominique Anglade’s strategy of distributing pins and t-shirts emblazoned with her ‘Building tomorrow’ slogan of being at odds with her stated environmental stance.
Anglade fired back, defending her environmental record and saying she has yet to hear what Cusson’s priorities are.
“I want to see how everyone is going to raise the level and really propose ideas,” she said. “I haven’t heard any specific ideas, so I’m anxious to hear them.”
Cusson launched his candidacy on Saturday but declined to answer numerous questions about what policies he would put forth, saying he would reveal his platform in January.
MNA Gaetan Barrette said he wasn’t bothered by the lack of policy proposals thus far.
“It’s going to be a very interesting race. Everybody agrees we have two great candidates. We feel very strongly the party is headed in the right direction,” he said. “In my view day one wasn’t five months ago, day one was yesterday. As of now they have to go ahead and put forward their positions on a number of issues.”
Barrette said despite any sniping during the race he expects the Liberals to rally around whoever is elected leader.
“I think the Liberal Party isn’t about division. People do have their opinions, it’s not a uniform party, which is a good thing. But at the end of the day Liberals do get together for a greater cause.”
Anglade also responded to rumours that some in the party were looking to back anyone other than her over fears that residents of Quebec’s regions would be hesitant to vote for a black leader.
“It’s an issue of the beast because you hear these things everywhere in the world,” she said. “It’s not something specific to Quebec but I think Quebecers are beyond that.”
Cusson said he didn’t think Anglade’s Haitian roots should enter into the debate.
“That’s not an issue for me, it’s an idea debate and that’s what we’ll do,” he said.
Liberals hope to hold onto Jean-Talon
With a by-election in the Jean-Talon riding scheduled for Dec. 2, interim leader Pierre Arcand expressed optimism that the Liberals will come out victorious.
The riding was previously held by Liberal Sebastien Proulx, who announced his retirement from politics in August. In the 2018 election Proulx won with 32 per cent of the vote, a decrease from 41 per cent in 2015 and 44 per cent in 2014.
“The thing we have seen is that wherever she goes, Gertrude Bourdon, who is our candidate, seems to be well-received. People respect her for what she has been doing in the riding. She was the person who was in charge of 13,000 employees. She’s well aware of many of the issues regarding Jean-Talon.”
Bourdon has previously served as the president of the Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Quebec.
