Montreal municipal politician Laura Palestini will represent the incumbent Liberals in the upcoming byelection for the vacant Lasalle-Émard-Verdun seat.
Palestini has served five terms on Montreal’s city council. Campaign co-chair Soraya Martinez told Radio-Canada Palestini was handpicked by the Liberal Party to run. The seat became vacant with the resignation of former justice minister David Lametti in January.
A date has not yet been called for this byelection; Elections Canada says the date must be announced by July 30.
David Lametti disagrees with a federal judge’s ruling that actions taken under the act infringed on Charter rights.
The NDP will be represented in the race by another Montreal city councillor, Craig Sauvé, and the Green Party is running former candidate for the party federal council Jency Mercier.
The Conservatives have not yet announced a candidate but party leader Pierre Poilievre has made several appearances in Montreal since Parliament went on its summer recess.
The Liberals have won Lasalle-Émard-Verdun in each election since the riding was formed in 2015.
The Liberals lost the recent Toronto-St. Paul’s byelection to Conservative Don Stewart last month in a contest they were expected to win. That riding had been held by veteran Liberal MP Carolyn Bennett since 1997.