Mindful of the perils of long-drawn-out out leadership races, Quebec’s Liberals are stepping up the pace to replace Jean Charest.
Only a week after his departure, party officials are now saying the party hopes to have its new leader in place in time to take on the Parti Québécois government’s first budget – expected in March.
“It will go pretty fast,” said Michel Rochette, the party’s director of communications. “But it will be according to the rules of the party.”
The first step comes Wednesday, when the Liberal caucus meets in Quebec City to rubber stamp the party’s executive decision Monday to name Saint-Laurent MNA Jean-Marc Fournier as interim leader.
The veteran Fournier will mind the shop, including work in the National Assembly, until a full-time leader is chosen.
Fournier is on the record as saying the party should not wait too long to replace Charest. The very long New Democratic Party leadership campaign hurt the NDP because the party was much less visible in parliament, Fournier noted.
In theory, the National Assembly was supposed to resume sitting Sept. 18. That will be put off.
Instead, on Monday the 54 new PQ MNAs will be sworn in.
After that, the new premier, Pauline Marois, is set to announce the members of her first cabinet, likely Tuesday in time for a first cabinet meeting Wednesday.
Meanwhile, other details are emerging about the Liberal plan. Rochette said the party plans to hold a one-day party general council meeting in October to adopt the rules for a leadership race as proposed by the soon-to-be drafted organizing committee.
The committee will set the date for the leadership convention and spell out the rules of engagement between candidates, including how much they can spend in their quest for the crown.
The Liberal constitution already says Liberal leaders are chosen by delegates elected in ridings who vote at a convention in the classic fashion.
And a race does appear to be emerging – not a coronation, as was the case for Charest.
On Monday, the man everyone was waiting to hear from, former Quebec health minister Philippe Couillard, confirmed he is mulling it over.
Couillard told the QMI news agency he’s giving himself two weeks to decide.
“For the moment, it’s a subject I am not planning to make public comments on,” Couillard said. “It’s important that I have my personal space in such a period.
Couillard, a neurosurgeon, was elected MNA for the riding of Mont-Royal in 2003.
He was Quebec health and social service minister from April 2003 to June 2008, at which time he gave up on politics to work in the private sector.
In additional to other jobs, Couillard is a consultant with Persistence Capital Partners, which operates in the health sector.
“For the moment I am very happy with what I am doing,” Couillard said. “Times change and I am not looking for anything else.
“However, I have to take very seriously rumours which see me succeeding Jean Charest.”
Another potential candidate who is mulling is former Liberal intergovernmental affairs minister Benoît Pelletier.
Others on the short list are the most recent health minister, Yves Bolduc, former finance minister Raymond Bachand, former natural resources minister Sam Hamad, Brome-Missisquoi Liberal MNA Pierre Paradis and former transport minister Pierre Moreau.
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