Bloc says byelection win has ‘created a bridge’ between party and Montrealers

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The Bloc Québécois’s byelection win in Montreal has built a bridge between the party and people living in the city, leader Yves-François Blanchet said on Tuesday.

Speaking next to the party’s newly elected candidate in the LaSalle — Émard — Verdun riding, Louis-Philippe Sauvé, Blanchet stressed the importance of picking up an additional seat on the island, for a total of two.

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“We’ve created a bridge,” Blanchet said, “a zone of convergence with Quebecers on the island of Montreal, who are as much Quebecers as those in Drummondville, Chicoutimi or the Gaspé.”

Blanchet added he sees the win as an opportunity for English-speaking Quebecers to get a fresh look at the party and what it’s offering.

“And I would dream of some of them saying, ‘This idea of a country is not such a bad idea. Let’s discuss this,’” he said.

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Voters went to the polls Monday for what turned out to be an especially tight race, with the Bloc’s Sauvé narrowly defeating the Liberal and New Democratic Party candidates.

Elections Canada said Tuesday the Bloc won the seat just 248 votes ahead of the Liberals.

Blanchet acknowledged the Bloc winning the byelection would have seemed nearly impossible only months ago, but credited Sauvé’s grassroots campaign for the victory.

Sauvé, who said he remained cautiously optimistic throughout the campaign, listed such issues as affordable housing, better pensions for seniors and Quebec independence as his priorities.

“Getting to serve the people (of the riding) is the greatest privilege,” Sauvé said, adding he intends to quickly get to work.

The riding, which covers part of LaSalle, the neighbourhoods of Ville-Émard and Côte-St-Paul, and all of Verdun except Nuns’ Island, was represented by the Liberals’ David Lametti from its inception in 2015 until his resignation in early 2024.

The loss in the riding deals a major blow for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his party, coming only three months after the Liberals lost a Toronto-area riding it had held for more than three decades.

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“Obviously, it would have been nicer to be able to win and hold (the Montreal riding), but there’s more work to do and we’re going to stay focused on doing it,” Trudeau told reporters in Ottawa Tuesday.

When asked what went wrong for his party, Trudeau answered: “I think there’s all sorts of reflections to take on that.”

In an email response on Tuesday, McGill University political scientist Daniel Béland said the Liberals should be “very concerned” by the outcome.

“Negative signs are adding up,” Béland said, mentioning the previous byelection loss and recent public opinion polls. “And (Monday’s) byelection performance points in the same (bad) direction of the Liberals.”

As for the Bloc carrying the momentum into the next federal election, Béland said the win is “excellent news” for the party but what comes next remains to be seen.

“Not only did they win the seat, but they significantly increased their vote share compared to previous elections in that riding,” he said.

“However, this was a three-way race and the Bloc candidate still got only about 28 per cent of the votes,” he added. “So it’s hard to say what this byelection victory means for the party overall.”

With files from The Canadian Press.

jfeith@postmedia.com

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