Montreal city councillor Laura Palestini will represent the Liberals in the LaSalle-Émard-Verdun riding in a byelection that will be called by the end of the month in another test for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s party after their recent failure to retain another stronghold in downtown Toronto.
In a press release announcing her appointment, the Liberal Party of Canada states that Palestini has demonstrated “her ability to deliver concrete results for her neighbours.”
The party’s president, Sachit Mehra, is also quick to attack Conservative Party of Canada leader Pierre Poilievre, accusing him of wanting to “make massive cuts to the services Quebecers rely on.”
Palestini said she intends to work to “build more housing and protect tenants, strengthen our public health-care system, fight climate change while creating new, well-paying jobs, and ensure that every member of our community has a fair chance to succeed.”
Palestini has been elected to municipal politics five times, starting in 2005, and four times as LaSalle borough councillor. She currently sits on city council, representing the same borough.
She will face another city councillor, Craig Sauvé, who represents Le Sud-Ouest borough and will run for the New Democratic Party.
According to the Election Act, the byelection must be called by July 30. However, the Bloc Québécois and the Conservative Party of Canada have yet to announce their candidates.
LaSalle-Émard-Verdun was left vacant after the resignation of David Lametti on Jan. 31, a few months after the former federal justice minister was excluded from cabinet during last summer’s cabinet shuffle.
Lametti has won three consecutive elections since 2015, the year the riding was created. In the last election, in 2021, he was re-elected with 42.9 per cent of the vote. The Bloc Québécois candidate was a distant second (22.1 per cent), and the New Democratic Party candidate came third (19.4 per cent).
In late June, voters in the Toronto-St. Paul riding sent a clear message to Trudeau’s Liberals by electing the Conservative candidate in what was considered a Liberal stronghold for more than 30 years.
Since then, calls for Trudeau to step aside have multiplied in the Liberal ranks, both inside and outside the caucus. Trudeau has chosen to hang on, announcing that he intends to focus on how the Liberals can “continue to deliver” for Canadians.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published in French on July 19, 2024.