Less than a week after MNA Joëlle Boutin stepped down as Jean-Talon, the candidacy ball for the upcoming by-election has already begun. Radio-Canada has learned that Quebec Solidaire activist (QS) Olivier Bolduc, who finished runner-up in the October 2022 election, will try again to be elected.
Mr. Bolduc, a stenographer by trade, is the first candidate to officially announce his intention to stand in the future by-election, which could be called at any time in the next six months.
“The people of Jean-Talon need a loyal, motivated deputy who stays,” the 35-year-old commented in a brief telephone interview with Radio-Canada, criticizing Joëlle Boutin, who will step down at the end of July, just nine months after her re-election with the Coalition avenir Québec (CAQ).
It is not certain, however, that Mr Bolduc will be the one to wear QS’ colors as the party must first come up with a nomination that other potential candidates wish to participate in.
A fifth choice
For Mr Bolduc, this is the third attempt to become an MEP for Jean-Talon. Last year and in another by-election in 2019, he bit the dust against Joëlle Boutin.
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In a by-election in 2019, Joëlle Boutin overturned Jean-Talon’s liberal castle in the lap of the CAQ.
Photo: Radio Canada / Sylvain Roy Roussel
He also tried his luck at QS in the 2014 and 2018 general elections, albeit on the other side of the river, riding Chutes-de-la-Chaudière. This will therefore be his fifth choice in less than 10 years. “I’m warmed up, I’m ready,” he laughs.
As a new father, Mr. Bolduc nonetheless has a fondness for politics, despite the challenges it poses in terms of work-life balance.
Having a child is something that makes my commitment even more concrete. “I’m thinking about his future,” says the young father.
A constituency to watch
Jean-Talon was a Liberal stronghold until Joëlle Boutin’s victory in 2019 and a region where more than one party can seek victory in the upcoming by-election.
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Sébastien Proulx was the last member of the Quebec Liberal Party (PLQ) in Jean-Talon before resigning in 2019.
Photo: The Canadian Press / Jacques Boissinot
Last year, the Coalition avenir Québec (CAQ) won with 33% of the vote and a margin of almost 3,000 votes, but QS improved significantly, winning 24% of the vote.
The Parti Québécois (PQ), which has not been represented on the Capitale-Nationale electoral map since 2018, is not left out either. In June, a Léger poll put him at the forefront of voting intentions in the region after the Legault government abandoned the third link motorway section.
In a sign that hostilities are already in full swing, last week, the day after Joëlle Boutin’s resignation, the PQ launched a promotional offensive on social media with the slogan “Beat the CAQ in Quebec”.
Québec Conservative Party (PCQ) leader Éric Duhaime may also see an opportunity in his quest for a seat in the National Assembly, even though his party garnered just 10% of the vote in Jean-Talon last fall. According to his spokesman, Mr. Duhaime is currently under consideration.