Quebec Liberals plan leadership race for 2025 to attract maximum number of candidates
CBC
The Quebec Liberal Party (PLQ) won't be choosing its new leader until spring 2025 — a year and half before the next Quebec general election, officials announced on the last day of the party's general council meeting in Drummondville, Que.
Speaking to some 400 party members on Sunday, Nicholas Plourde, president of the electoral committee of the leadership race, said the party opted for a late run in order to attract "as many candidates as possible," including those from outside the party.
Plourde said it is now up to party faithful to reach out to potential candidates in order to have a proper race and not "a coronation."
Marc Tanguay, the current interim leader of the party, shared that sentiment.
"We are looking for a real race with more than one candidate: men, women, people with ideas," he said. "I think that we put forward the right conditions to be successful in this major, major objective."
Party officials unveiled the rules for the election Sunday morning, which will take place during an event in Quebec City.
Similar to the last Liberal leadership race in 2019, aspiring candidates will have to obtain the support of 750 members from 70 constituencies covering 12 regions of Quebec. Among the 750 members, 350 must be new members of the PLQ.
The deposit to run is set at $40,000 and the spending limit at $400,000.
Meanwhile, several PLQ members, namely younger ones, criticized the election committee and the party's executive council for not taking their points of view into consideration concerning the date of the race.
Many say they would have preferred to have a new leader sooner, sometime in 2024, in order for that person to establish themselves in the position and begin rebuilding the party.
In response, PLQ president Rafael P. Ferraro said the consultation process was over and asserted that it's in the best interest of the party to have a leadership race later rather than sooner.
The new leader will replace Dominique Anglade, who announced her resignation last November following a shaky campaign in Quebec's provincial election.
In announcing her decision, Anglade acknowledged her party was in turmoil and said she was quitting "in the interests of Quebec and for the good of the party."
Tanguay, for his part, has ruled out running for the job, as have several other PLQ members, including André Fortin and Monsef Derraji.
Local fans and industry insiders say the province’s move to ban the reselling of event tickets for more than their original value is a step in the right direction, but some say there are still larger issues that need to be addressed.
This First Person column is the experience of Mehdi M. Kashani, who lives in Toronto. For more information about CBC's First Person stories, please see the FAQ.
A very quiet queue has formed in Europe where some of Canada's long-standing, closest allies are seeking shelter under France's small but robust nuclear umbrella.
Friday morning's dusting of snow was no match for the large crowd visiting the Suleman Dawood Masjid in St. John’s for Eid-al-Fitr. A busy service marked the end of Ramadan, the Islamic holy month.
N.B. Power cannot reasonably expect its customers to absorb annual price increases that are well above the rate of inflation and should have its request for a 4.75 per cent increase in the coming year reduced, the New Brunswick Energy and Utilities Board was told on Friday.
Rodger Brulotte, renowned sports commentator and voice of the Montreal Expos, has died. He was 79.
One of the first red flags about now disgraced Winnipeg officer Elston Bostock came 15 years before he was arrested, when an informant warned police about a "dirty cop" helping a drug trafficker, search warrant documents obtained by CBC News say.
A Regina plasma clinic that pays donors allowed someone to give twice in less than 48 hours, Health Canada says.
A retired judge tasked with investigating allegations about Alberta health contracting says Alberta Health Services (AHS) renegotiated a contract to procure children’s medication for $7 million more and forensic accountants can’t justify why.
The B.C. NDP government has responded to a video posted by the B.C. Greens accusing the minister of state for artificial intelligence of a conflict of interest for investing in a fund containing AI stocks by saying a Green MLA owns similar investments.
The Canada Revenue Agency is using the court system to attempt to collect $100 million it says Islanders and Island businesses owe to the federal government for unpaid taxes.
The regulator for Alberta’s lawyers says it will no longer mandate Indigenous cultural competency training in advance of what Alberta Premier Danielle Smith calls the “Peterson law” coming into force.
Thousands of people gathered at a Eid festival in Toronto on Friday to celebrate the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, but an organizer says many people did so with heavy hearts.