Quebec Liberal Party (PLQ) youth wing president Gabriel Bourret intends to remain completely neutral on the future of the party's leader, Dominique Anglade.

Bourret refused to say if he wants Anglade to remain leader of the party or if he would prefer her to step down.

The leader will have to pass a vote of confidence from the membership at a party convention within a year to decide whether or not Anglade will remain leader. Anglade says she intends to continue leading the party.

"I'm not going to say whether I'm going to vote for or against Anglade," said Bourret.

He would also not give an answer when asked if the leader contacted him to see if she could count on his support, what he would say.

He said that "for the moment, my boss is Dominique Anglade." He added that he "hasn't got that far" in his thinking on the subject.

Asked if he believed that Anglade will still be the leader of the party in the next election in 2026, he said he doesn't know and that "the process must take its course."

Bourret was the defeated PLQ candidate in the last election in the Masson riding, and also refused to comment on the minimum percentage that Anglade should aim for to remain in office after the vote of confidence because it is "not the time to start speculating on numbers."

The Liberal youth wing president said he does not want to influence the vote of the party's younger members. He said he believed it is not his role to "impose a vision" on members aged 16-25.

"It's important that they can vote the way they want," he said. "If they see their president publicly taking a position, it can send a message that one position is better than the other."

He added that if the young members ever gave him a clear mandate, things could change. He said he has no idea where the party's youth stand on the leadership issue.

Despite the PLQ's crushing defeat on Oct. 3, the worst in its history with a meagre 14 per cent of popular support and a caucus of 21 MNAs, Bourret doesn't "think there are any major changes to be made" in the Liberal Party, in order to regain the voters' trust.

"It is not true that the party has to start from scratch," he said.

He noted, however, that the situation was easier for the PLQ, when you think that "for 50 years, all we had to say was: if you are for the No, vote for us."

This report by The Canadian Press was first published in French on Oct. 31, 2022.