A newcomer to federal politics in a party with almost no prior success in Quebec has managed to upend a cornerstone of Liberal support by stripping them of the riding of Outremont for only the second time in the last 80 years.
The NDP and its star candidate Thomas Mulcair claimed an important victory in Monday’s byelection in this urban Montreal riding, energizing the party by winning only its second seat ever in Quebec.
With 100 supporters gathered at bar off Montreal’s trendy St. Laurent street, a beaming NDP Leader Jack Layton attempted to put the win in context. --“Welcome to a new era,” he told a near delirious crowd of mostly young faces.
Mulcair, a former Quebec Liberal cabinet minister, immediately played the notion of a one-off win with little chance of repeating.
“This is a victory for the NDP’s message, for our priorities,” he said. “Our priorities are you priorities.”
But while the win allowed the NDP to establish a toehold in Quebec, it also raises serious questions about the direction of the Liberals.
With Monday’s other two byelections in territory usually hostile to the Grits, Outremont was seen as a crucial test of Stephane Dion’s leadership. Conservatives captured the riding of Roberval-Lac-St-Jean and the Bloc held onto St-Hyacinthe-Bagot. Source...
