QUEBEC — Voters on Montreal's south shore will choose their new provincial legislature member on April 11.
François Legault's government announced the byelection date today for the Marie-Victorin riding, a former stronghold of the sovereigntist Parti Québécois.
Opposition parties have accused Legault's Coalition Avenir Québec party of dragging its feet in setting a date for the byelection in the riding, where unofficial campaigning is well underway.
Legault has cited the COVID-19 pandemic as a reason to wait.
The seat was left vacant by Catherine Fournier, who won the riding with the PQ in 2018 but quit the party to sit as an Independent. She resigned from provincial politics when she was elected mayor of Longueuil in November.
The PQ has held the riding since the 1970s, but the CAQ came within about 700 votes of winning it in 2018.
Legault's party is running Shirley Dorismond, a nurse who works in addictions and mental health, against PQ candidate Pierre Nantel, who represented the Longueuil area as an MP with the NDP.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 8, 2022.
The Canadian Press
