The electoral campaign for the by -election in Arthabaska has not yet officially started, but everywhere on the territory, where many local issues are pending, the games are indeed launched.
“You go down the coast of the church and you see signs. I have never seen that here, people who appear for candidates like that, ”exclaims Yves Charlebois, mayor of Saint-Ferdinand.
In his municipality, as in all the others of the surroundings, signs of PQ candidate Alex Boissonneault and the conservative candidate Éric Duhaime have pushed everywhere on private land. The CAQ presented its candidate, Keven Brasseur, last week and there is still no one for the PLQ.
The race will be all the more interesting since since the 1980s, elected officials from different parties have represented the county: the PQ, the PLQ, the ADQ and the CAQ have succeeded.
As soon as possible
For all the mayors consulted, you need a new deputy as soon as possible. Since the departure of the caquist Éric Lefebvre, who has made the leap among the Conservatives to the Federal, a satellite office has been opened. But it remains a temporary solution.
All these elected officials hoped, in vain, that Prime Minister François Legault would trigger elections last Friday when he announced his candidate.
A decree must be taken at the latest on September 18, according to Elections Quebec, which would lead to a ballot on October 27. We would then find ourselves in the middle of the municipal electoral campaign everywhere in Quebec, which would not be ideal.
“We were several to think that it would be triggered in the spring, before Saint-Jean-Baptiste, there we see that it is postponed, a little to our dissatisfaction,” says Antoine Tardif, mayor of Victoriaville. We need a deputy who can bring our issues. ”
The latter points out the general concern linked to free trade with the Americans. “More than 70% of our exporting companies are dealing with the United States in the region and therefore have lived a lot of uncertainty since the start of the new year,” notes the mayor of Victoriaville.
The elected official also stresses that “more than 90% of the region is agricultural, and one of the strongest in Canada in dairy production. So the whole question of supply of supply worries a lot and has repercussions among employees. ”
He claims more programs for affordable housing, and hopes that the expansion of the Hôtel-Dieu d’Arthabaska will indeed be forward, as everyone has engaged.
Real campaign
In Plessisville, mayor Jean-François Labbé is anxious “that the real campaign begins to hear the local issues. This is the national issues linked to the parties that take up all the space, he observes. It is certain that we have our grocery list that we are going to assert. I think it will be our role to us, the elected officials, precisely, to bring the priorities back to the forefront ”.
In central Quebec, the battery sector has taken up a lot of space, notes Mr. Labbé. “We already had enormous pressure on our health infrastructure, daycare, and on our regional economic development, but that did not help. Companies want to develop but we are unable to meet demand. ”
“I expect the party leaders and organizations to attract the attention to them as much as possible,” says Mayor Yves Charlebois, according to whom the candidates will have to talk about local issues if they want to charm people.
For his part, he hopes in particular commitments to find a new vocation at the old house of the Sacred Heart, CHSLD which closed its doors 10 years ago, and the maintenance of grant programs for the local roads.
Summer heart
In the heart of the summer, many have their heads elsewhere, even if the upcoming outfit of a by -election ends up catching them. “I have been calling for the Conservatives three times, a recorded message from Eric Duhaime,” said Paul-André, who dined with friends on a terrace in Victoriaville.
“They will not have time to do much by the general election, it is a waste,” says Joël Mainville, who has not followed the campaign and who will wait for the general election to vote.
At the Victoria cheese dairy, a flagship of the region founded by his father in 1946, Marc-André Gosselin saw several candidates parade in his establishment to hugs, in recent months.
But the businessman, for his part, does not feel a lot of enthusiasm. “It takes someone in the seat, but as we are relatively close to the real elections, it looks like it has no flavor. Yes, they are very present (the parties), we saw them everywhere, but it is not the real deal. ”
The mayor Antoine Tardif believes on the contrary that the election, even if it will not take place in the ideal context, falls in time. “We are going to see,” he says, “what the parties have to offer.”
