Quebec Liberals plan leadership race for 2025 to attract maximum number of candidates | CBC News

The Quebec Liberal Party (PLQ) won’t be choosing its new leader until spring 2025 — a year and half before the next Quebec general election, officials announced on the last day of the party’s general council meeting in Drummondville, Que. 

Speaking to some 400 party members on Sunday, Nicholas Plourde, president of the electoral committee of the leadership race, said the party opted for a late run in order to attract “as many candidates as possible,” including those from outside the party.

Plourde said it is now up to party faithful to reach out to potential candidates in order to have a proper race and not “a coronation.” 

Marc Tanguay, the current interim leader of the party, shared that sentiment. 

“We are looking for a real race with more than one candidate: men, women, people with ideas,” he said. “I think that we put forward the right conditions to be successful in this major, major objective.” 

Party officials unveiled the rules for the election Sunday morning, which will take place during an event in Quebec City.

Similar to the last Liberal leadership race in 2019, aspiring candidates will have to obtain the support of 750 members from 70 constituencies covering 12 regions of Quebec. Among the 750 members, 350 must be new members of the PLQ.

The deposit to run is set at $40,000 and the spending limit at $400,000.

Division among members

Meanwhile, several PLQ members, namely younger ones, criticized the election committee and the party’s executive council for not taking their points of view into consideration concerning the date of the race. 

Many say they would have preferred to have a new leader sooner, sometime in 2024, in order for that person to establish themselves in the position and begin rebuilding the party. 

In response, PLQ president Rafael P. Ferraro said the consultation process was over and asserted that it’s in the best interest of the party to have a leadership race later rather than sooner. 

The new leader will replace Dominique Anglade, who announced her resignation last November following a shaky campaign in Quebec’s provincial election.

In announcing her decision, Anglade acknowledged her party was in turmoil and said she was quitting “in the interests of Quebec and for the good of the party.”

Tanguay, for his part, has ruled out running for the job, as have several other PLQ members, including André Fortin and Monsef Derraji.

So far, the only candidate who has openly expressed an interest in entering the race is Frédéric Beauchemin, who was asked earlier this month to withdraw from the party caucus pending an inquiry into allegations of psychological harassment.