Éric Duhaime to disgruntled CAQ members: come on down

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QUEBEC — The leader of the Conservative Party of Quebec says his door is wide open for Claire Samson or any other disgruntled MNA who may want to jump ship and join his team.

“All I need is one,” Éric Duhaime said, not hiding the fact he is actively courting Coalition Avenir Québec MNAs and others to join the ranks of his fledgling party in order to give it more visibility.

“Anyone who agrees that we should have more democratic rights and individual freedoms is welcome. That’s why I am approaching MNAs.”

A sitting MNA joining the Conservatives would instantly give Duhaime access to the halls of the National Assembly, where he could speak to the media directly. The MNA could also question the government’s ministers on policy and decisions on behalf of Duhaime’s party.

Duhaime also believes having a sitting MNA would give him access to a leaders’ debate during an election campaign.

Duhaime, who was elected leader of the party in April , currently does not have a seat in the legislature but said he plans to run for office in the Quebec City region in the 2022 general election.

His comments came a day after the CAQ caucus kicked Samson, the MNA for Iberville, out of the party for donating $100 to Duhaime’s party.

In a statement, caucus chair Mario Laframboise said the party “cannot tolerate that an MNA of our party financially supports another party that contests and rejects science and health measures in place.”

Duhaime, a former political adviser known for his libertarian views who was more recently a Quebec City radio host, has been a harsh critic of the government’s COVID-19 decisions and other policies.

In the interview with the Montreal Gazette Wednesday, Duhaime confirmed he has met with Samson three times in the last month to try and woo her into his party. Samson has expressed bitterness at having been passed over by Premier François Legault in his cabinet choices in 2018 .

She spoke to Duhaime again Wednesday. Samson is back in her riding and said she is giving herself 24 hours to mull over her future options. For now she will sit as an independent.

Duhaime would not name the MNAs he has spoken to. He says he can’t because they are feeling the heat from the party brass for having flirted with him.

“They did this to Claire Samson to scare the others,” Duhaime said, adding she has more support in the caucus than the party wants to acknowledge.

The MNAs he has spoken to are, like him, unhappy the CAQ has strayed from its initial right-of-centre vision for Quebec — something his Conservative Party of Quebec is offering.

“It’s a fratricidal war,” Duhaime said. “There are people in the CAQ who are disappointed because we are more to the right (in our thinking).

“We wanted lower taxes, smaller government and more private health care. Remember François Legault promised us this when he merged with the Action démocratique du Québec (ADQ).

“Now we have a government which is more to the left than the Liberals. It’s clear we feel betrayed. I am not alone. Some want to protest from inside; others, like me, from the outside.”

Regardless of how the Samson saga ends, Duhaime said his fishing expedition will continue. Besides CAQ MNAs, he said he has spoken to one Liberal MNA.

There are signs Duhaime has some potential to woo the CAQ base in its Quebec City stronghold where a recent poll showed the Conservative Party of Quebec polling second to the CAQ .

The Conservatives are polling at 14 per cent which is, nevertheless, way behind the CAQ at 52 per cent.

Duhaime says he has 15,000 members in his party, which is more than the CAQ with 11,500. He says he is beating all the other parties for donations. He includes in his base some English-speaking Quebecers not comfortable with the CAQ or the Liberals.

“I see it in our membership,” Duhaime said.

Meanwhile, Samson Wednesday told Radio Canada that her ouster from the CAQ was swift and brutal. She said she learned the news through the media.

“The CAQ decided Madame Samson is no longer Caquiste so Madame Samson does not have many options this morning,” Samson said, speaking of herself in the third person.

“This morning I learned I was expelled. I will give myself 24 hours. My first reaction is I am quite a bit less Caquiste than I was.”

She said she was shocked that a donation would lead to her ouster.

“I did nothing illegal,” she said. “I respected all the health rules that were announced by the government. I did nothing bad.”

She defended her donation as a democratic act.

“I think Mr. Duhaime deserves to be heard,” she said. “We don’t have to agree with all points of view, but Quebecers deserve to have a choice.”

pauthier@postmedia.com

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