A man who's seeking the Liberal nomination in the riding of Ahuntsic-Cartierville is asking the party to make a move and soon.
Only two ridings in all of Quebec don’t have a Liberal candidate yet – and one is Ahuntsic-Cartierville, in Montreal’s north end.
With the election call possibly just weeks away, the Liberal Party has yet to set a date to choose its candidate in that riding. The party's choice is believed to be former Montreal mayoral candidate Melanie Joly, but others want the job.
The party keeps delaying the date for a nomination meeting saying technical issues are to blame, but not everyone believes that is true.
At one point, eight people wanted to become the Liberal candidate for Ahuntsic-Cartierville. In February, Joly announced she would be seeking the nomination. She's known Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau for many years and even helped him in his bid to become the Liberal leader.
“Well Mr. Trudeau, I know him well and I've been his advisor, but right now the most important thing is that members will choose the candidate,” she said.
Elie Kassissia believes he's the best man for the job. He's been selling Liberal membership cards for 14 months now. He resents Joly joining the race so late, and issued a press release stating:
"One doesn't have to be a student of politics to understand that the LPC had hoped for Melanie Joly to be the candidate in Ahuntsic-Cartierville."
“Nobody likes parachuting,” he said. “Elements within our great party were influenced by Joly and likely lobbying Melanie Joly in order to parachute herself.”
While she's seen as being Trudeau's choice, Trudeau has also said there would be open nominations, which means that whoever signs up the most members becomes the Liberal candidate.
Candidate Grace Batchoun said she believes the long wait for a nomination meeting is actually helping them.
“I have not stopped. I just keep going door to door and try to meet as many people in Ahuntsic-Cartierville as possible,” she said.
There are now just four people running after four other hopefuls dropped out and political analyst Lise Ravary believes the Liberals are delaying the nomination meeting because the party wants more people to drop out of the race so Joly wins.
“She could be the perfect candidate for him, but he's stuck with this promise not to nominate somebody directly, but go to the people of the riding and the people of the riding might feel differently about her,” she said. “I think they would really like to see Melanie Joly there and they don't want to break the engagement that Justin Trudeau made about not dropping in people from outside.”
On Sunday, Eve Adams, a former Toronto-area Tory MP who crossed the house to sit with the Liberals, lost her bid to represent the Liberals in the Eglinton-Lawrence riding. Trudeau endorsed Adams for the nomination and she was trounced by lawyer Marco Mendicino.
