The federal Liberal brand will be put to the test again in a byelection in the Montreal riding of LaSalle—Émard—Verdun on Sept. 16 — a contest Liberal Party brass hope won’t deliver a repeat of the party’s failure in a Toronto riding earlier this summer.
The Liberals’ byelection loss in Toronto-St. Paul’s — a riding the party had held for more than 30 years — prompted a lot of soul-searching and griping among Liberal MPs who interpreted the result as a rebuke of their leader, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
Some voters in Toronto-St. Paul’s told CBC News they saw the byelection as a referendum on Trudeau and that a loss there should be seen as his cue to leave after nine years in office.
That’s how Montreal voter Mary Ann Davis, a former school commissioner, is feeling about the upcoming byelection in her riding.
“People are not happy with the Liberals. They’re not happy and they’re basically saying, ‘I’ll vote for anybody but the Liberals,'” she said.
“I think Trudeau should resign. I’m voting NDP this time, that’s for sure.”
Frederick Dejean, originally from France, said Trudeau fatigue is part of the reason why he’s also voting for the NDP.
“Trudeau has spent a long time in Ottawa, so maybe it’s time for him to leave the place and let someone else step in,” he said.
Trudeau has so far hung on to the top spot despite some entrenched opposition and has dismissed calls to step aside or shake up his cabinet and staff. He’s promised a renewed focus on policy over politics and personalities.
But the LaSalle—Émard—Verdun contest is all about politics — and holding off challengers from the NDP and Bloc Québécois looking to take another longtime Liberal seat and deliver another body blow to Team Trudeau.
“This election is about Justin Trudeau’s record. People want to send a strong message to Ottawa and I want to be their voice,” Louis-Philippe Sauvé, the Bloc’s candidate, told CBC News.
“I think that voting Bloc is a good way to protest and I’m going to knock the hell out of the doors in this riding.”
More than half (about 58 per cent) of the riding’s residents are francophones, according to census data.
About a quarter of the riding’s residents — roughly 23 per cent — list English as their mother tongue. The LaSalle portion of the seat has a sizeable Italian-Canadian community.
That demographic mix historically has…
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