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charles milliard becomes second candidate to run for quebec liberal leadership
he joins former montreal mayor denis coderre, with several other possible hopefuls waiting in the wings to declare.
aug 10 2024
2 minute read
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quebec — the quebec liberals have a leadership race on their hands.
a second candidate, charles milliard, the former president of the fédération des chambres de commerce du québec (fccq) , announced friday evening he has decided to run after mulling the idea all summer.
“i will be a candidate for the leadership of the quebec liberal party,” milliard told tva in an interview. “i will make a more official announcement in the coming weeks to present the ideas i want to include in my platform and the people who are accompanying me.”
asked why he is running, milliard said: “the liberals of quebec has been my political family for 25 years. when i was 16 years old, i was installing posters in lévis, where i was born.
“for me, it has always been my political family and i think political faithfulness is important.”
he is the second candidate to make it official; former federal mp and former montreal mayor denis coderre announced he is running in june.
milliard timed his announcement to coincide with the annual meeting of the quebec liberal youth wing, which takes place saturday in montreal.
milliard and coderre will be on hand, plus other potential candidates, including liberal mna frédéric beauchemin , who represents the montreal riding of marguerite-bourgeoys. beauchemin is widely expected to run.
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antoine tardif, the mayor of victoriaville , who is seen by some liberals as an ideal candidate because he can rebuild the party in the regions, is also expected to make an appearance.
the other name that emerged this week as a potential candidate is federal transport minister pablo rodriguez . he is not expected to attend the youth wing meeting, but is considering a run for the job.
and even if he is not decided, rodriguez is the first to get the public support of a liberal mna in the caucus; the mna for notre-dame-de-grâce, désirée mcgraw, told cjad radio she would support him.
with one-third of the party votes in the leadership race, the youth wing represents an important pool of voters for the candidates. indeed, milliard and beauchemin have been jockeying for weeks to shore up that part of the vote before the race officially kicks off in january 2025.
in may, milliard got the support of 81 liberal youth wing members who signed an open letter saying he is their choice. two members of the youth wing executive also resigned in order to be able to campaign for him.
a few days before that, three other youth wing executive members, including president lina yunes, resigned to be able to support beauchemin.
the party will elect its new leader, a replacement for dominique anglade , on june 14.
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