Back from his way to Compostela, Denis Coderre wants to make it big with an announcement in front of the Parliament building. He declined an interview request to avoid any “diversion.” A longtime liberal organizer, Christian Therrien, is his campaign manager. Member of Parliament from 1989 to 2012, former minister Norman MacMillan decided to support Mr. Coderre following the withdrawal of his ex-colleague and president of the Employers’ Council, Karl Blackburn, who was suffering from prostate cancer. “The other candidates who show interest [in leadership] don’t have the spark that Coderre has with the people on the ground. For the Liberal Party to get through this and come to power, it takes Denis Coderre,” argues Mr. MacMillan, who will not be present at the announcement of his favorite.
Denis Coderre confirmed to Mr. MacMillan that he wanted to run in Bellechasse in the next general election, a riding on the South Shore of Quebec that the Coalition Avenir Québec won from the Liberal Party in 2018. He has already said he is in favor to a third highway link between Quebec and Lévis, a major issue in Bellechasse. “Yes, I agreed to team up with Denis Coderre,” confirms Marie-Claude Michaud, who has lived in Saint-Roch-des-Aulnaies with her partner Roméo Dallaire for several years. “His background, his frankness, in the sense that he says the real things, and his vision for Quebec and the regions, that resonates with me. I am seriously considering running as a candidate in Côte-du-Sud. » She is a leadership consultant after a 20-year career in the Canadian Armed Forces. Ms. Michaud and Mr. Dallaire will not be at Denis Coderre’s press conference due to an inability to attend. She confirms that Mr. Coderre chose Bellechasse, information that has been circulating among the Liberals for several days.
Charles Milliard, 44, left his post as president of the Federation of Chambers of Commerce of Quebec in June because he is preparing the ground for his arrival in the race for the leadership of the PLQ. Officially, he says he is considering the summer period, but there is little doubt that he will plunge. His presence at the Young Liberal BBQ confirms this; he is himself a former activist of the Youth Commission. Former chiefs of staff and advisors under the Couillard and Charest governments surround him. At the PLQ general council in June, MP André Fortin – liberal star of the last parliamentary session – had good words for him and 81 young activists came out to encourage him to run for leadership. Let’s remember: those aged 25 and under hold a third of the votes in the choice of the next leader. A graduate in pharmacy, he started working for Uniprix in 2002 and became its executive vice-president in 2013. He moved to the public relations firm National in 2017. He took the helm of the FCCQ in 2020.
The mayor of Victoriaville, Antoine Tardif, is not insensitive to pressure to enter the race. And as the 34-year-old himself said, he “does not close the door to one day doing it to another [level of government].” The local federal deputy, the independent Alain Rayes, is campaigning in his favor and is ready to set up an organization for him. Mr. Tardif was his advisor when he wore the colors of the Conservative Party of Canada. Former advisor to the Charest and Couillard governments, Salim Idrissi, publicly urged Mr. Tardif to run as a candidate. Behind the scenes, it is rumored that Mr. Tardif’s candidacy would be viewed favorably by long-time liberals like Dany Renaud – who had moved from the Conservative Party to the PLQ at the same time as Jean Charest – and Sébastien Lachaine – a former permanent member of the PLQ who worked in the past with Denis Coderre.
The MP for Marguerite-Bourgeoys, Frédéric Beauchemin, has already announced that he plans to succeed Dominique Anglade. The official announcement will be made later. The 59-year-old is the apostle of budgetary rigor. He obtained the support of the former Minister of Finance in the Couillard government, Carlos Leitão. Before making the leap into politics, Mr. Beauchemin was an executive and head of capital markets at Scotiabank. He wore the colors of the Liberal Party of Canada in 2019, in Terrebonne, where he lost to Bloc leader Michel Boudrias.
Activists still hope to convince MP Marwah Rizqy to run, even if she has already ruled out running. She has just had a second child. The absence of women in the ranks at the moment is an issue. Liberals are still dreaming of a move to the provincial level by federal minister François-Philippe Champagne. Former minister Michelle Courchesne showed this well on the airwaves of RDI: “I am announcing to you that if François-Philippe Champagne decided to come to the provincial scene, not only would he win the leadership of the Liberal Party, but he would win the next election. It might be a little tight with Paul St-Pierre Plamondon, but I think he would win the election. So I say to those in Mr. Champagne’s office who are listening: ‘Convince your boss, because his future is in Quebec, his future will not be in Ottawa,'” she declared on the Mordus de policy.
Mr. Champagne was recently named co-chair of the federal Liberals’ upcoming campaign in Quebec. The federal elections will be held no later than October 2025. Officially, the PLQ leadership campaign will begin on January 13, the date on which the filing of official candidacies will begin. Four debates are scheduled between April 12 and June 8. The new leader will be elected on June 14.
