The Notepad: Vol. 1

This week: Quebec Liberals on Life Support, A Hockey Fight Saga and Something Funny

Hello and welcome to The Notepad: a column for paid subscribers that focuses on:

• A Pretty Big Story

• Some Things I’m Reading

• Something Funny

• Something I Learned This Week

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A Pretty Big Story.

Québec Solidaire takes down a Liberal fortress

The context: Outside of the West Island-to-Westmount corridor, it’s hard to think of a bigger Liberal stronghold than Saint-Henri-Sanite-Anne. Going into this week’s by election, the provincial Liberals won the district 10 consecutive times dating back to the riding’s creation in 1994. Even after getting their teeth kicked in by the CAQ last fall, the Liberal leader Dominique Anglade won the riding by a healthy margin, taking home 36 per cent of the vote to Québec Solidaire’s 27.

That all changed Monday, after Québec Solidaire candidate Guillaume Cliche-Rivard — who ran against Anglade in October — campaigned circles around his Liberal opponent. Cliche-Rivard, an immigration lawyer, zeroed in on housing affordability and immigration as two central issues to the neighbourhood. He won 44 per cent of the vote, beating the Liberals by 16 points.

The takeaway: Tom Mulcair said the by election was a real “wake-up call” for Quebec Liberals. I disagree. You don’t get wake up calls when you’re on life support. You just get bedsores. If I were a betting man — and I am, whenever possible — I’d wager that most Quebecers couldn’t tell you who is in charge of the party without punching “PLQ leader” into Google. Marc Tanguay. His name is Marc Tanguay.