[ad_1]
Montreal – “Mrs., there is a squirrel in your apartment.”
Louis-Philippe Sauvé stands at the doorstep of three undecided voters when he witnesses an impossible scene. This family is not wealthy. In fact, the opposite is true. But their votes in this election are important, and about one-third of the voters in La Salmard seem uncertain.
“Why do we vote for you?” asked a man who lives in an apartment with his parents “spend too much, and there’s little heating.”
The squirrel quickly vacated the house, but the Québécois candidate continued to fight for his votes, lasting ten minutes.
Sauvé’s pitch is simple. He was elected in a massive by-election mistake in September 2024, fighting tirelessly for his voters. He lives on horseback. He rented it and knew what it felt like to deal with the landlord. He wants to ride a horse to be proud of his history. Nationwide, he announced his party would fight for the aerospace industry, agricultural supply management and Quebec culture.
In September, he begged voters to give him a one-year probation. He won by 269 votes in three matches against the Liberals and the New Democrats. Seven months have passed, and now he is asking for the whole thing. He promised, “I will fight for you.”
They agreed. It’s in the bag. Go to the next door.
At the time, his victory created a veritable tsunami in Ottawa, which eventually led to Justin Trudeau’s resignation in January. When he needs to show the relevance of the group, this is actually a line he uses.
Because this kind of riding is the definition of the Fortress of Freedom. Former Prime Minister Paul Martin represents the ancient riding for more than 15 years, while former Attorney General David Lametti represents the current riding for eight years.
According to the polls, the Liberals will easily win again this time, with former IBM Canada president Claude Guay being their “star” candidate.
So, in a sense, Sauvé won the election as much as he found a squirrel in an apartment.
“You know, we had a miracle for the first time, we just had to try another one,” he said.
But he is not a fool. He knew that victory was unlikely. The party sources didn’t even suggest that they could stick to the ride. By Saturday, when the State Post spent the day with Sauvé, the leader’s caravan had not yet visited him.
Locally, his campaign hopes leader Yves-François Blanchet will shine in debates later this week to promote the party. If Québécois wins 30% or 31% of the vote in Quebec, a victory in La Salle (émard) may be more likely.
In Sauvé, the Separatist Party had a strange candidate. He is not your ordinary politician. He has been involved in politics for many years but was elected for only seven months.
He joined Québécois in April 2011, riding Laurier-Sainte-Marie. At the time, he went to the office of former Brock leader Gilles Duceppe to help prepare for the election. A few weeks later, the group was severely declining and recorded the worst outcome in its history, with only four seats.
At that time, he witnessed the meaning of failure with his own eyes. In the days before the election, during Duchep’s ride, people rejected flyers, avoided eye contact and expressed disdain. He said the atmosphere on the ground today is completely different from that at that time.
He was there when the party tried to rebuild himself, and later worked for leader Yves-François Blanchet. He knows what confidence and the feeling of failure.
“I’m not afraid of losing. I’m 32 and my life is in front of me.” He ate the rounded corners of breadcrumbs at Zappy Restaurant, an institution a few meters away from the fabulous Verdun auditorium.
The auditorium is a legendary stage, with former NHL head coach and Verdun native Scotty Bowman leaving his mark, where epic rock bands such as Metallica, Nirvana and Foo Fighters spread the rooftops, as well as the greatest politicians in Quebec history, filling the crowds with emotional and captivating collective imaginations.
As he grabbed a bite of fish and a bite of coffee, Sovie showed his candid candidness. He said: “Losing is a relief. You have nothing to do. When you win, trouble begins. You have important responsibilities for your work.”
He added: “You have to try to remember that you have to win.”
The sport is tough, he said, because he thinks it starts from the order falling to election night.
“One day I was frustrated, the next day I thought I had won, there was a knife between my teeth.” At this point, we were behind the auditorium near the St. Lawrence River.
A local group carried out a massive cleanup of the St. Lawrence Bank. Sauvé arrived with dozens of flyers and spent more than two hours there. He did not distribute it. He began to clean the beach and traces with dedication. Few people are shaken. Some people recognize them, some don’t.
“I showed up when I wanted to help my constituents and I would really help me. I don’t make photos,” he was frustrated with his communications director Linda Mohammedi Tramoni.
“It’s about making him know that sometimes you have to do things you don’t like,” she said.
She added: “Sometimes you do it for the image, but he has his own beliefs, it’s very powerful, he has ideals, and honestly, it’s very noble. He’s not just showing off there; he’s doing real work there.”
Volunteers then told him that freelance candidate Claude Guay was on the scene.
“I don’t want to see him,” he said. Sauvé didn’t impress Guay for skipping the previous week’s local debate.
On the beach, Guai and the army of free volunteers took pictures. There is a dog. They seemed very happy.
Organizers confirmed that they came over, cleaned up a little, took videos and photos, and left after 30 minutes.
“I told you,” Sovie said, full of waste when he dropped his third huge garbage bag.
So Sauvé might be a bit like a squirrel in a voter’s apartment. He was moving, he couldn’t stop. He is everywhere, but people don’t necessarily notice him.
He said he was more like a beaver, a French-Canadian symbol, an organized, hardworking and creative species.
“Louis-Philippe is a grassroots guy. He’s been there all the time. Honestly, that’s important,” said Alain Bourque, who is running for Welton’s next mayor and knows him well.
When he saw an apartment for rent, Sovey told his volunteers that he should send his photos to business owners looking for a place to live.
Across the street, a resident shouted to him, “Are you a mass candidate? I’m voting for you!”
Next door is another surprising surprise.
The woman first said, “I don’t know if I will support you.” After 15 minutes of conversation, she told him that she would vote for him. “You are a real person,” she said.
He admitted to exhaustion as he drove to the last event, a locally organized dinner that supported a family of children with autism.
“I haven’t fully appreciated my victory yet,” he said. Now he may lose.
In the room, an ancient church, an accordionist played the work of the French film Amily Poland. The atmosphere is gentle. People laughed when SEO Wei shook hands.
One participant told us that Savi “always were there for his constituents” and that they saw him more frequently in seven months than any of his “ghosts” people.
Soon, Sauvé drank another cup of coffee and thanked the volunteers for speaking… in Spanish.
All four of them were moved. Music rose to the peak of the old church.
“We chose you,” one of them told him. “We vote for you. Thank you for everything.”
Savi shouldn’t win. But who doesn’t believe in miracles? Not him.
State Post
atrepanier@postmedia.com
Getting deeper national postal political coverage and analysis in the inbox of the newsletter with political hackers, Ottawa Bureau chief Stuart Thomson and political analyst Tasha Kheiriddin are all behind the scenes behind what actually happens every Wednesday and Friday. Register here.
[ad_2]
Source link
