Liberal candidate needed off-island

BY ALBERT KRAMBERGER

editor@transcontinental.ca

After their star candidate Marc Garneau went supernova last election, the federal Liberals are still looking for a candidate to run in Vaudreuil-Soulanges in the next election.

A few potential candidates have put their names forward to party officials but their bids are still under review, said Brigitte Legault, the Liberal Vaudreuil-Soulanges riding association president and the party’s national vice-president (French).

She added she hopes to have a contested nomination, although she added she was pleased to have Garneau run last election.

“We will look at everyone who submits a nomination,” she said yesterday. “For sure, the executive committee (of the riding association) wants someone to run who is from the riding but we will never close the door to an excellent candidate (from outside the area) like we had in Marc Garneau.”

Garneau was parachuted into the riding by party brass, which selected the then Canadian Space Agency executive over former MP Nick Discepola, who held the riding from 1993 to 2004, when he lost to Meili Faille of the Bloc Québécois.

Meanwhile, two West Island Liberal incumbent MPs think the party would be best to have a local candidate run in the off-island riding in the next election, which could be held later this year if the Conservative minority government loses a vote of confidence following the speech from the throne set for Oct. 16.

“Some names (for a local candidate) are being bandied about but I can’t mention names right now,” said Lac St. Louis MP Francis Scarpaleggia. “It’s a very big riding. It would be easier to build from the ground up with someone from the riding.”

Pierrefonds-Dollard MP Bernard Patry said Vaudreuil-Soulanges is a riding the Liberals can win back next election.

“Having a local candidate there would be great,” he said. “It’s outside Montreal, many people in small cities want access to their MPs. Outside of large cities, local candidates have more of a chance.”

The two incumbents are ready to run again.

“I’m not saying we’re doing great in Quebec,” Patry said last week. “But the last time we had a majority of seats here, in 2000 with 38 seats out of 75, Jean Chrétien was our leader and he was not loved by the Quebec population.

“We are doing very well in Ontario, Saskatchewan and the Atlantic provinces,” he added. “We need 15 more seats in Quebec and we can win a majority.”

Despite many questions raised about Stephane Dion’s leadership, the two MPs think the party can turn its fortunes around in an election campaign.

“We are working on our new vision right now. We are putting together our policy platform,” Scarpaleggia said. “This will allow the leader to express himself and be able to attack the prime minister’s record. Things will start to change directions.”

As for Dion, he is “working through issues” but the “Quebec caucus is squarely behind him,” Scarpaleggia said.

Realistically, there are two parties that could form a government in the next election, the Liberals or the Conservatives, Patry said. “I’m just not sure it’s going to be a majority government.”?