The loss of the Liberal candidate in Montreal’s LaSalle-Emard-Verdun electoral district is the latest in a string of bad news for the governing Liberal party and comes just four months after the party suffered an unexpected defeat in another seemingly safe district in Toronto.
In Monday night’s LaSalle-Emard-Verdun by-election, Bloc Québécois candidate Louis-Philippe Sauvé defeated Liberal candidate Laura Palestini by 250 votes. Turnout was a strong 40 per cent.
Let’s look at what this result means for the major federal parties.
Liberal Party
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and several cabinet ministers said Tuesday that the party needs to think about how to engage with voters following its narrow defeat in the LaSalle-Emard-Verdun constituency.
Voter dissatisfaction with the prime minister has been growing since he took office nine years ago. Liberal MP Alexandra Mendes said some voters “areVery stubborn“He should no longer be at the helm of the party.”
François-Philippe Champagne, Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry, said Tuesday morning that the Liberal party needed to “show humility,” evaluate the results and work to earn voters’ trust.
“The Bloc won’t be able to stop the Conservatives,” Champagne said. “If we want to maintain the gains we’ve made over the past few years for Quebec and the rest of the country, we need to make sure they understand that we are their best option.”
Champagne rejected suggestions that Trudeau might not be the best person to lead the party in the next election, saying the prime minister embodies the optimism the country needs in the coming months.
“I think he’s the perfect person to get us there,” he said.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is under pressure to defend his leadership as his government faces a vote of no confidence next week following a by-election defeat in LaSalle-Emard-Verdun, a longtime Liberal stronghold.
Immigration Minister Marc Miller, who covers the Ville-Marie-le-Sud-Ouest-Île-des-Soeurs constituency near LaSalle-Emard-Verdun, said he was confident the Liberals would win and “takes the defeat very personally.”
Miller said in June that the Liberal loss in the Toronto-St. Paul riding should not be taken lightly, saying “a lot of us have to take a step back, shake our heads and try a little harder. Stop thinking about ourselves and get back on the horse and fight for Canadians.”
Bloc Quebecois
Louis-Philippe Sauvé’s unexpected victory gave the Bloc Québécois a 33rd seat.
Party Leader Yves-François Blanchet told reporters Tuesday that the by-election results had “built a bridge” between the party and Montrealers.
Until now, the Bloc Party only controlled the electoral district of La Pointe de l’Ile on the island of Montreal, its stronghold.
“Two months ago, analysts would have said that it was not possible,” Blanchette told a news conference in Montreal.
Blanchett said her victory “allows me to speak directly to the British community to which I have had an open heart throughout my political career”.
According to census data, more than half of LaSalle-Emard-Verdun’s residents (about 58 percent) are French-speaking.
About a quarter of the district’s residents, roughly 23 percent, speak English as their first language, and the district’s LaSalle neighborhood is home to a sizable Italian-Canadian community.
New Democratic Party
The New Democrats, who hold only one seat in Quebec, currently do not appear to be able to regain their popularity in the province. Cleaned up More than 10 years ago.
Despite fielding a high-profile candidate, former Montreal city councillor Craig Sauvé, the NDP failed to make a breakthrough in the LaSalle-Emard-Verdun constituency.
Sauvé, a prominent figure in the Southwest region, finished third.
Ahead of the announcement of final results in Montreal’s LaSalle-Emard-Verdun by-election on Monday night, NDP candidate Craig Sauvé said his campaign has been a dream come true and thanked his supporters.
His performance, and the fact that the party presented him as a star candidate, suggest the NDP has struggled since finishing the campaign. Supply Reliability Agreement Met with the Liberal Party on September 4th.
Before the NDP retained its seat in the Elmwood-Transcona by-election, former NDP member Françoise Boivin questioned whether the loss in the riding was a sign that party Leader Jagmeet Singh waited too long to end his agreement with the Liberals.
Conservative Party
For the Conservatives, the loss in LaSalle-Emard-Verdun represents a missed opportunity to weaken the Liberal party as they seek to pressure other opposition parties to force a so-called “carbon tax election” this autumn.
Conservative candidate Louis Iarrenty, a businessman, came in fourth in the Montreal by-election with 11.6 per cent of the vote.
That’s despite opinion polls showing the Conservatives leading nationally. Not translated It remains in third place in Quebec.
Since the birth of the modern Conservative Party under Stephen Harper, the Tories have Struggling to maintain double-digit seats They hold majorities in Quebec and are competitive in five to 10 constituencies across the province.
The party won 10 Quebec seats in the 2021 election, most of them in the region surrounding Quebec City.
