Underdog candidates take aim at Liberal strongholds

BY ANDY BLATCHFORD

andy.blatchford@transcontinental.ca

Fringe, independent or out of their safety net?

For more than a decade, the West Island has been a bastion of Liberal support, yet on March 26, the names of unfazed candidates wearing different colours will crowd local ballots.

If a candidate "votes with his conscious because he's not obligated to follow a party line, it can make a powerful impact for democracy and the people in his community," said Marquette independent hopeful Russell Wood. "You need fresh minds, fresh ideas and people who give a damn.

"If we really want to save our democracy or make it more successful, we have to cycle the politicians."

The Lachine resident is not alone in the uphill battle to stem Liberal popularity in the West Island. Independents, peripheral parties and mainstream candidates campaigning outside their party's strongholds, have also signed up.

The West Island has remained red for decades, except for a victory by the former Equality Party in 1989 and a win by the defunct Union Nationale in 1976.

In 2003, Liberal victories were one-sided in the four West Island ridings, as candidates earned between 65 and 87 per cent support.

Marquette, which covers Lachine and Dorval, has been Liberal since its creation in 1980.

Wood said the string of success made the Liberals insincere.

"When people are in power too long it's natural that they get a little bit lazy," the 45-year-old sociologist and film producer said.

Locally, the revitalization of Lachine's Notre Dame Street is a key concern for Wood.

Early education, the environment and community health are also high on the list for a man who has tried unsuccessfully to find a family doctor for three years.

Without the financial backing of a political party, Wood is relying heavily on flyers, shaking hands and his website www.woodelect.ca">www.woodelect.ca">www.woodelect.ca).

"I have fresh energy and I will fight for it," he said.

The only other West Island independent is Fathers 4 Justice Canada head Andy Srougi, who is running in Jacques Cartier.

Meanwhile, Quebec Green Party candidate Ryan Young said smaller parties influence decisions made by the larger parties.

Still, the Greens are the only ones who address environmental issues as a top priority, the Jacques Cartier hopeful said.

"Increasingly, people are becoming more and more disillusioned with the bigger parties," said Young, running for the Quebec Greens for the third time. "The Green Party will stick around and I'm sure at some point we will be one of the big parties because the environment's not going to go away."

The sovereigntist Parti Québécois, a major party in ridings across the province, has had difficulty making in-roads in the staunchly federalist enclave of the West Island.

"If we want people to vote for the Parti Québécois in the area then someone has to run so they have a choice," said Robert Baldwin PQ candidate Alexandre Pagé-Chassé.

The 21-year-old Pierrefonds native has been active in the riding association since 2004.

While studying at CEGEP Gérald Godin Pagé-Chassé co-founded a sovereigntist association at the school. He works part-time as a clerk at a Couche-Tard convenience store.

"Politics is something that really interests me and running will provide experience that will open doors later on," said Pagé-Chassé, a Université de Montréal political science and communications student.

Meanwhile, longtime John Abbott College political science professor Jim Leeke said major parties aim for full slates to try their luck in difficult ridings, where candidates are often "paying their dues."

In the case of fringe parties, Leeke said they can play a key role in bringing new proposals to the mainstream.

"For them it's a question of not so much winning votes, it's a question of putting the issues that they think are important into the campaign," the Beaconsfield resident said. "The importance of ideological parties has always been to bring forward ideas that they hope will become popularized."

Leeke said independent contestants often run as true believers in a specific cause or even just to see their name on billboards.

However, "independents are relatively insignificant, unless they're well known," he said.