Quebec Liberals sputter as CAQ, QS see fortunes rise in fortress Montreal
CBC
After a lacklustre campaign start in and around Quebec City, Quebec Liberal Party Leader Dominique Anglade found herself in a shopping mall in Sherbrooke, glad-handing in former Liberal premier Jean Charest's old stomping ground — a riding she is determined to win back.
But while Anglade was there, the Quebec Liberal Party (PLQ) candidate in the neighbouring riding of Mégantic announced she was dropping out of the race.
It was the fourth day of the campaign and the fourth day Anglade had been dogged by questions regarding her party's organization: about the sluggishness of campaign financing, the PLQ's incomplete slate of candidates, and polls that show the PLQ, at dissolution Quebec's Official Opposition, risks losing some of its 27 seats on Oct. 3.
Anglade says she knows what she is up against.
"When I decided to present myself as the leader of the Quebec Liberal Party, it wasn't because it was easy, but because the challenge is worth it," Anglade said in a televised interview last week on Radio-Canada.
But some analysts say Anglade and her PLQ are facing nearly insurmountable odds, and how they fare may end up shaping Quebec politics for years to come.
"The numbers for the Liberals have looked dire now for a while," said Philippe J. Fournier, the pundit and poll analyst behind the website Qc125.
"I do not think the Quebec electorate realizes how deep of a hole the Liberals are in right now."
WATCH | What's going on with the Quebec Liberal Party?
Once a juggernaut of political financing, the PLQ raised an average of $8.37 million annually from 2003 to 2008.
Fast-forward to 2022, and the party's fundraising is lagging behind all its main rivals.
According to Élections Québec data analyzed by CBC News, the PLQ has raised $369,921 so far this year — in fifth place, behind Éric Duhaime's fledgling Conservative Party of Quebec (CPQ), which has raised $529,477.
That's meant the PLQ has had to take out a sizable loan to finance the current campaign.
In August, it borrowed against two buildings it owns, in Quebec City and Montreal.
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