MONTREAL – There have been more bad days than good ones for Liberal leader Philippe Couillard.
You could call Monday a “great” day.
Couillard showed off his new star candidate to reporters Monday morning: Dr. Gaetan Barrette, president of the Federation of Quebec Specialists.
Barrette ran in the last election in 2012 with the Coalition Avenir Quebec, and lost to a Parti Quebecois candidate.
He vowed he would not run again, but says he changed his mind last month.
“Quebec is the worst in terms of economy, and it is the worst in terms of health care,” Barrette told Global News.
Couillard says Barrette, alongside former Liberal Health Minister Dr. Yves Bolduc, represent the “best team” to fix the province’s health care woes.
“This is a unique value that has never been brought together in a single team,” Couillard says.
“I am very proud of that.”
During the 2012 election campaign, Barrette was very outspoken against the Liberal party.
“That was then, this is now,” Barrette said with a smile.
CAQ leader Francois Legault calls Barrette an opportunist.
“I think Dr. Barrette is a guy with two faces, two speeches,” he told Global News.
“In private he talks against Philippe Couillard, in public he talks for Couillard.”
Gaetan Barrette will represent the Liberals in the south shore riding of La Piniere, a party stronghold.
He could go head-to-head with Fatima Houda-Pepin, the former Liberal who left the party recently following a dispute over Bill 60, the proposed “Charter of Values”.
Houda-Pepin has scheduled a news conference Tuesday where she’s expected to announce if she stays or goes.
Comments