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The provincial by-election in the Quebec riding of Louis-Hébert is barely a week old and already the wheels have come off the bus for the two main contenders.  Held since 2003 by the ruling Liberals, they had to pull the plug on their candidate just a few hours after the Coallition Avenir Québec contender also withdrew from the race.

Located in Quebec City, Louis-Hébert is a fairly well off riding, and includes the posh neighborhood of Sillery and Laval University.  So when Philippe Couillard presented his star candidate Éric Tétrault in mid-August, many were surprised, for many reasons.

First, as President of Quebec Manufacturers and Exporters since 2014, Tétrault actually lives on the South shore of Montreal.  According to a Liberal source, the PLQ was struggling to find a more local candidate, being turned down time and again, so they finally settled on Tétrault, a long-time Liberal with experience and knowledge of the business world and political financing.

Second, Tétrault's name came up during the Charbonneau Commission on political corruption, notably because he attended a Céline Dion concert in a VIP box, a gift from businessmen Lino Zambito, who has since plead guilty to fraud-related charges.  Former minister Nathalie Normandeau, who is facing fraud and breach of trust charges, was also present that evening.  Tétrault was also interrogated by Quebec's anti-corruption unit UPAC during a political financing investigation.  Tétrault was also part of Terrebonne Mayor Jean-Marc Robitaille's inner circle.  Robitaille, who lied about his relationship with ex-construction magnate and Charbonneau Commission star witness Tony Accurso, had to resign for "health reasons" after UPAC raided his home.  He was also the spokesperson for Alfonso Gagliano, of Sponsorship Scandal fame.

These should have been red flags for the Quebec Liberals, who are having extreme difficulties getting rid of the strong smell of corruption and other related scandals especially considering the by-election is triggered by the resignation of disgraced ex-minister Sam Hamad.  They went ahead with Tétrault anyway, to François Legault's CAQ's pleasure.  The CAQ was certainly relishing the idea of facing Tétrault and had high hopes of wrestling the riding away from the Liberals, after being a close runner-up in the last two elections.

Reports of psychological harassment of ArcelorMittal employees when Tétrault was director of public affairs surfaced only a day after the official campaign HQ opening, with Premier Couillard and several ministers in attendance.  The Liberals' reflex was to temper, deny and defend their candidate.  The first assumption was that the story wouldn't have legs and that they could ride the storm.  The Caquistes were pursing their lips!  Beauce-Nord MNA André Spénard made fun of the latest revelations about the Liberal candidate, assuring his party would have researched deeper in Tétrault's past if he had been a candidate for the CAQ.

A few hours later, surprise, the CAQ was dumping its own candidate Normand Sauvageau.  A former branch manager for Scotiabank, Sauvageau was the subject of complaints of psychological harassment which lead to his abrupt retirement in 2016.  When journalists got wind of the story (a coincidence, no doubt) and started to ask questions, Sauvageau unveiled the situation to the Caquiste HQ.   The decision was quickly made to pull the plug ASAP.  CAQ Leader François Legault went to twitter: "At the CAQ, it's zero tolerance.  I acted as soon as I knew.  I will announce a new candidature shortly."

This forced the hands of the Liberals.  After Tétrault spent the day apologizing and reiterating that he would campaign to the end, after seeing one cabinet minister after the other defend their candidate, like Christine St-Pierre who stated that no one was perfect or Lucie Charlebois stating she was "very comfortable" with the explanations provided, the CAQ's move to dump Sauvageau left no more margin to manoeuvre.  Ã‰ric Tétrault finally "decided" to withdraw from the race and it had nothing to do with the CAQ's own decision to drop their candidate.  Right.

Suddently, the race in Louis-Hébert is theoretically wide open.

The PQ, who held the seat in the 90s, is hoping they will benefit from the CAQ and PLQ's self-inflicted wounds.  Quebec Solidaire is playing the righteous card, accusing both parties of having "blind confidence in the business community."  Even the newly reformed Quebec NDP, running a candidate for the first time provincially since 1994, is hoping this gong-show will benefit their candidate, former MP Denis Blanchette.

Voters will choose on October 2nd.

Photo Credit: CBC News

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