Liberal leadership candidates make a push in Quebec

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OTTAWA — Former Bank of Canada governor Mark Carney may have launched his Liberal leadership campaign in Alberta, but his final, frenetic days of campaigning before the voter registration deadline on Monday were spent in Quebec.

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On Sunday, Carney was escorted by Industry Minister François-Philippe Champagne to a dairy farm, a retirement home and a junior hockey game in Shawinigan, the home of former Liberal prime minister Jean Chrétien.

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Fellow candidates Chrystia Freeland and Karina Gould also travelled to Quebec in the crucial days leading up to the deadline to register to cast a ballot in the race.

Freeland, the former finance minister whose dramatic resignation sparked Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s decision to step down as prime minister, was interviewed on one of Quebec’s most-watched talk shows, where she exchanged a few Ukrainian words with another guest.

And Gould, the former Liberal House leader, told a young audience on a Montreal radio show that her favourite colour was green, that she followed a French immersion program at school, that she had attended McGill University for four years and that Montreal was “her second home.”

For the candidates, the objective was simple: to showcase their French and tell Quebecers how much they care about them.

The Liberals have lost support in Quebec over the past year, but replacing a Quebecer with an Ontarian at the helm of the party could give them a second wind.

The 78 ridings will be crucial to winning the leadership race, but more importantly, to saving face in the next federal election. However, the Liberals are now third in the polls in the province, behind the Conservatives and the Bloc.

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All three candidates have placed the province at the heart of their campaign, with Freeland giving her first interview on TVA, the province’s largest private broadcaster, having the support of Quebec caucus chair Stéphane Lauzon, and making French a core value of the race.

“Quebec is and will remain at the heart of my platform,” she wrote on social media a day after her appearance on Tout le Monde en Parle, Radio-Canada’s popular talk show.

During her appearance, she presented herself as a strong woman ready to take on U.S. President Donald Trump and Freeland was still in Montreal on Monday, trying to convince Liberal voters to register and support her campaign.

“For Chrystia, it’s important to show Canadians that she can fight Donald Trump and Pierre Poilievre, but also the Bloc Québécois in Quebec,” said a source close to Freeland.

Carney attended a fundraiser in Montreal’s wealthy Westmount neighbourhood on Friday night and spent Sunday with Champagne in rural Quebec, where he pledged to balance the budget in the first term but also keep child care and dental care intact.

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And Gould tried to showcase her French skills and her ability to reach out to Quebec Liberal members.

“I sense excitement in the race. Members are renewing their membership and people are talking about it. And to be honest, a lot of us don’t know who to vote for,” said a Liberal insider who was not authorized to comment publicly on the race.

The pitches of the three candidates are very different, according to several sources. Carney’s campaign is centred around his economic credentials, Freeland describes herself as a tough negotiator and Gould is pitching herself as the candidate for change within the party.

While Carney has the support of nearly a third of the Quebec caucus, many Liberal MPs have yet to announce who they will support.

One of them is Jean-Yves Duclos, Trudeau’s lieutenant in Quebec, who wrote a four-page letter to all the candidates telling them what he expects in a leader. He suggests the appointment of a deputy premier of Quebec, he wants the candidates to firmly defend the rights guaranteed by the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and “continue to support a strong CBC/Radio-Canada.”

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“Candidates will also have to take into account the particularities of the Quebec nation, recognize the decline of French in Quebec and elsewhere in the country, and ensure the sustainability of Francophone communities across the country,” he wrote.

A source close to Duclos did not rule out that he could support a candidate, but for now, he is answering calls and telling them to put the province first.

“A strong Canada needs a strong Quebec,” wrote Duclos.

National Post
atrepanier@postmedia.com

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