Liberals lose longstanding hold on Lasalle-Emard-Verdun in Montreal byelection

September 16th was federal byelection day in Montreal’s south-west Lasalle-Emard-Verdun riding long held mostly by the Liberals since the 1930s. But no longer.

 

As byelection day approached, candidates were running neck and neck in polls. On election night, the NDP’s Craig Sauvé was leading until 12:30am. 

 

The final result came in at 2:45am with Bloc Quebecois Louis-Philippe Sauvé narrowly winning –  8,536 votes (28%), surprising even the Bloc. Liberal Laura Palestini came in 2nd place – 8,271 (27.2%) votes, and the NDP Craig Sauvé came in 3rd – 8,014 (26.1%) votes. 

 

The Conservatives trailed in 4th place with 3,514 votes and no real prospects on the Quebec political scene.

 

91 candidates listed on a ballot almost a metre long led to the late vote count. Many candidates put their names on the ballot to protest Trudeau’s reneging on electoral reform.

 

Voter turnout was 40%.

 

Clearly, the Liberals have failed the population on the economy, housing, and climate change, as evidenced in the NDP Manitoba byelection win on the same day, and an earlier byelection loss in Toronto to the Conservatives. 

 

Montrealers, as elsewhere, are fed up with the Liberals unfulfilled promises on the housing crisis, high rents, grocery and transportation prices, and climate change. Trudeau’s face wasn’t even included on Liberal placards, as other party leaders appeared with local candidates. The Liberals are not listening and many believe they just don’t care.

 

Even 52 Liberal Party staffers signed a letter telling Trudeau they wouldn’t be knocking on doors or making phone calls in the Montreal byelection because of his handling of the war in Gaza. 

 

NDP Sauvé was the only candidate to call for a stop to Isreal’s genocide against Palestinians, a ceasefire, sanctions, an arms embargo, enforcing ICJ rulings, and recognition of a Palestinian state. He issued a campaign pamphlet featuring him standing before a Palestinian flag. 

 

He was denounced by the Conservatives and the Centre for Isreal & Jewish Affairs (CIJA), saying Sauvé was ‘importing a “foreign conflict” into the election and accused him of “fueling antisemitism.” Bloc Québécois Leader Yves-François Blanchet criticized Sauvé’s use of the issue. It seems that a complicit Canada in the ongoing genocide of Palestinians is no concern to these political forces.

 

The opposition to Sauvé’s pamphlet didn’t seem to rattle voters based on election results, indicating that much broader fightback against Isreal’s genocide on Palestinians and Canada’s role in it is possible.

 

Arab and Muslim communities remain wary of political parties’ attempts to gain votes despite Singh and Sauvé meetings within the community. 

 

While Singh defended Sauvé, the NDP still has to prove they can get Parliament and Canadian businesses to stop participating in the ongoing genocide of Palestinians.