CAQ's Shirley Dorismond wins byelection in Marie-Victorin, a PQ stronghold
CBC News | Posted: April 12, 2022 1:57 AM | Last Updated: April 12, 2022
Dorismond grew up in Old Longueuil and worked in the health-care sector
The CAQ's Shirley Dorismond won the hotly contested Marie-Victorin byelection on Montreal's South Shore Monday night, indicating that Premier François Legault's party remains popular in Quebec despite criticisms over how his government has led the province through the pandemic.
Dorismond won with 5,697 votes, or 34.95 per cent of the vote — a lead of 795 votes over Parti Québécois (PQ) star candidate Pierre Nantel.
Marie-Victorin, located in Old Longueuil, has been a PQ stronghold since its creation in 1980, with only a one-year gap in 1984 when the Liberal party won a byelection.
According to Legault, who celebrated Dorismond's victory alongside other cabinet ministers at a pizzeria in Longueuil reserved for the occasion, the vote implies Quebecers want change, but they want it to be done right.
"After 40 years of electing a PQ member, the voters of Marie-Victorin have decided to put that behind them, to look to the future, to send the CAQ and Shirley to the National Assembly," said Legault in his congratulatory speech.
WATCH | François Legault and Shirley Dorismond celebrate the CAQ's win:
He said voters of Marie-Victorin discovered "an exceptional woman who knows Quebec's health-care network."
In her victory speech, Dorismond — a former nurse and vice-president of the Fédération interprofessionnelle de la santé du Québec nurses union — said she looks forward to working with the residents in her riding and supporting Quebec Health Minister Christian Dubé in his reform of the health-care system.
"I am making history in Marie-Victorin, where I grew up," said Dorismond, who attended Gérard-Filion high school in Old Longueuil.
She has a bachelor's degree in nursing from the University of Ottawa and a certificate in gerontology from the Université de Montréal. Her professional background in health care includes work with people suffering from addiction.
In her speech, Dorismond said she is already looking forward to working with her colleagues, but especially the health minister.
"Mr. Dubé, I'm coming. I hope you are ready, because I am."
PQ expects better results in general election
The byelection was held to replace the PQ's Catherine Fournier who stepped away from provincial politics to take the reins as mayor of Longueuil.
Fournier was elected as a PQ MNA in a 2016 byelection, and then to a full term in 2018. She left the party in 2019 to sit as an Independent.
But Fournier didn't dominate in 2018, a first for the riding as she beat her CAQ opponent Martyne Prévost by only 705 votes.
The PQ came in second Monday night, with 30.07 per cent of the vote. At a gathering, leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon looked on the bright side of the party's defeat.
"When we look at this, and we know that in six months, we have a general election, it's a result that is close and I can say: it's only a rematch," he told clearly disappointed supporters.
"I don't think we can assume that the government will have such favourable circumstances in six months."
Plamondon said despite his loss, Nantel will run for the PQ in the Oct. 3 general provincial election.
For his part, Nantel said his party has shown it remains the "real alternative" to the CAQ and he expects better results in the general election.
"I think it sends [the message] that the PQ is alive and well and able to go and challenge the CAQ government."
The fight isn't over for other parties
Shophika Vaithyanathasarma with Québec Solidaire (QS) came in third place Monday night with 2,316 votes (14.21 per cent), followed by Conservative Party of Quebec (PCQ) candidate Anne Casabonne, who amassed 1,696 votes (10.4 per cent.)
In a news release, Vaithyanathasarma noted that more than 200 volunteers worked on her campaign and she plans to roll up her sleeves between now and October.
QS co-spokesperson Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois said he was proud that his party took the time to talk about "housing, public transit, the environment, independence!"
At a gathering for the PCQ, leader Éric Duhaime almost claimed victory for his party's fourth place finish.
"The polls put us at 1.9 per cent, then in January we were at 6 per cent. In the last poll, we are at 8 per cent. Tonight we are above 10 and the movement continues," he said Monday night.
Duhaime noted that all the other opposition parties obtained lower percentages than in the 2018 general election, allowing him to argue that "the only opposition party that is progressing significantly [...] is the Conservative Party of Quebec."
Liberal candidate Émilie Nollet collected just 1,130 votes (6.93 per cent.) on Monday night.
Martine Ouellet, who recently created her Climat Québec party, won a meagre 310 votes (1.9 per cent.) But she was ahead of the Green Party, whose leader Alex Tyrell won less than half of that — 142 votes (0.87 per cent.)
Voter turnout reached 36 per cent, compared to 25 per cent in the 2016 byelection in the same riding, when Fournier was first elected.
The CAQ's majority, now grows to 76 of the 125 seats in the National Assembly. Dorismond will have face voters again in the fall when Quebecers cast their ballots in the general election.