Conservatives pick Jimmy Yu to run in Saint-Laurent byelection
Yu lost to Stéphane Dion in 2015, says actions of Liberal party prompted him to run again
Cultural events organizer Jimmy Yu will represent the federal Conservatives in the upcoming Saint-Laurent byelection.
Yu announced his candidacy at a restaurant in Saint-Laurent Tuesday night.
"The Liberals didn't keep their promise, they have a really big deficit," he said.
"That's what encouraged me to run again against the Liberal party."
Yu also ran in the 2015 election, earning just 19.5 per cent of the vote, a distant second to Stéphane Dion's 61 per cent.
In a speech following the announcement, Yu highlighted his immigrant roots and panned the Liberals for authorizing safe injection sites.
"The Liberal government already approved three injection sites, and I will never allow [one] to be in my riding."
And while he wouldn't formally endorse any Conservative leadership candidates, leadership hopeful Kellie Leitch was there to show her support.
"As Jimmy says, we are a country built on immigrants and this is a huge opportunity for him, someone's who's so hardworking [who] will be talking about those things that resonate with voters here in Montreal," Leitch told CBC News.
With files from Simon Nakonechny