Eric Duhaime’s incapacity to win partial in Arthabaska is a harsh blow to cash. For him and his troops. Despite months of intensive work in the county, the chief of the conservative party of Quebec was doubled by the PQ candidate Alex Boissonneault.
At 35% of the votes for Mr. Duhaime, 10 more points for his party than in the 2022 elections, dishonor is however relative. The real danger for him is elsewhere. This danger is the hairy syndrome.
On a scale certainly more modest in Arthabaska, Éric Duhaime, like the federal conservative chief, has not been able to widen his supports sufficiently beyond his hard core of faithful to win.
As soon as he found himself facing Mark Carney, an adversary perceived as more unifying in times of crisis, let us recall that Mr. Poilievre, without losing in dishonor either, was returned to his traditional electoral base.
Populist and polarizing
The reason? Politician first of all populist and hyper polarizing, in front of a Mark Carney, Pierre Hairy paid the prize for his true political nature.
So much so that even sovereignist voters in Quebec preferred to vote liberal to face Trump, but also to “block” Hairyvre.
In Arthabaska, Eric Duhaime’s defeat is also partly explained by his nature as a populist and polarizing politician in a context where voters are looking for something else.
Thus, in Arthabaska, how many caquis, liberal or solidarity voters voted for the PQ by anger against the CAQ, but also to “block” duhaime?
This reform that never comes
Does the hairy syndrome risk plumming Eric Duhaime again and his party in the 2026 elections? The question arises.
As for the serious “democratic distortions” of which he complains in an election mode which also traps his party like others, however, he is right.
However, if these distortions exist, it is because several chiefs – from Justin Trudeau to François Legault, via Jean Charest and René Lévesque – all promised to reform the voting system before being struck with amnesia once in power …