MONTREAL – Coalition Avenir Québec leader François Legault apparently had one last pre-election announcement up his sleeve, unveiling two high-profile candidates on Tuesday morning in Montreal; one of whom practically upstaged the leader as he addressed the media at the CAQ’s downtown headquarters.
With an election announcement expected as early as Wednesday morning, Legault confirmed that Dr. Gaétan Barrette, head of the Quebec Fédération des médecins spécialistes du Québec (FMSQ), would run for his party in the riding of Terrebonne and serve as the CAQ point-man on all things health-care related.
Barrette would also be the minister of health if the CAQ were to form government, it was revealed.
The Terrebonne riding is currently represented by PQ MNA Mathieu Traversy, who won the seat easily in the last provincial election.
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The other newly minted candidate, Claire Samson, is president of the Association of Quebec Film and Television Producers, and has previously held high-profile positions at Radio-Canada and TVA Nouvelles. She will be running in Iberville against Parti Québécois incumbant Marie Bouille and Liberal candidate Alain Ménard.
While the news conference was called simply to introduce the two candidates, Barrette, who is no stranger to controversy, quickly took centre stage and at certain points, ended up sounding more like a party leader than a candidate.
“We will take all the measures necessary to make sure that each and every citizen in this province will have access to a primary care physician,” the radiologist pledged. He went on to explain that the party would focus on making significant improvements in the public health-care sector, but would also examine how the private sector might “play a supporting role.”
Neither Barrette nor Legault would get into specifics about how those improvements might be made, saying only that firm plans and promises would be revealed over the course of the election campaign.
Then, seemingly unprompted, Barrette launched into a speech about the CAQ being the only viable option for province’s Anglophone voters.
“The Liberal Party is D.O.D. Dead on departure!” he quipped in English. “You have a choice!”
Legault, when he did take the mic, said he was “proud” to welcome the two newcomers to his party, which is still less than a year old.
The CAQ leader is now expected to head to Quebec City in anticipation of the launch of the official election campaign.
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