Young people aged 16 to 25 have deserted the Liberal Party of Quebec

Photo: Karoline Boucher The Canadian Press Interim PLQ leader Marc Tanguay during the last question period at the National Assembly, June 7

Thomas Laberge – The Canadian Press in Quebec City

Posted at 7:50 a.m.

• Quebec

As the Young Liberal Congress opens on Saturday, The Canadian Press has learned that the number of members of the Quebec Liberal Party ( PLQ) aged 16 to 25 is anemic.

Outgoing president of the party's youth wing, Lina Yunes, speaks of 500 youth members at present . “We are at a time when political involvement is not a priority for young people,” she maintains in an interview with The Canadian Press.

At the same time, she assures that there has been an increase in young members in the PLQ in recent months and that the leadership will attract others. The Liberal youth wing brings together party members aged 16 to 25.

However, two Liberal sources to whom The Canadian Press granted anonymity because they were not authorized to speak on the subject, indicated that the number of young members in good standing would rather be below 350.

On the party side, they did not want to advance on the figures. “The Quebec Liberal Party has a policy of not confirming the number of its members. We are on the eve of a leadership race that will most certainly have positive effects. This is an important step in bringing new young and old members from across Quebec into our political party,” indicated in writing the president of the political party, Rafael Primeau-Ferraro.

In any case, the number of young members is very low for the PLQ, particularly if we compare it to what we saw in the 1990s for example. A text from The Canadian Press published in 1994 indicates that the PLQ Youth Commission wanted to increase its number of members from “7,000 to 12,000”.

In an open letter published in La Presse in 1998, the president of the PLQ Youth Commission at the time, Jonathan Sauvé, wrote that his body had “10,000 members”.

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More recently, in 2016, a report written by the then president of the PLQ’s National Political Commission, Jérôme Turcotte, noted a significant drop in the number of party members—all ages combined. He writes in particular that the PLQ lost 15,381 members between June 2014 and December 2015. The membership therefore went from 52,401 to 37,020. Jérôme Turcotte also indicates that only 8% of the activist base is under 35.

Last January, the party president, Rafael Primeau-Ferraro, stated that the number of members—regardless of age—was between 15,000 and 20,000.

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Young people can make a difference in the race

Since the PLQ must choose a new leader in 2025 and young members count for 33% of the votes in a leadership race, candidates who want to succeed Dominique Anglade will have to work hard to recruit new members aged 16 to 25.

In the rules of the leadership race, it is stated that “candidates will have to collect the signatures of 750 members in good standing from at least 70 counties and 12 regions, of which at least 350 must be new members.”

Potential candidates have already sought to woo young Liberals. The former president and CEO of the Fédération des chambres de commerce du Québec (FCCQ), Charles Milliard, received the support of 81 young members and supporters of the PLQ last May. Also, two members of the Youth Commission executive announced that they would be leaving their positions to support him.

A few days earlier, three other members of the executive—including Lina Yunes—resigned to support the MNA for Marguerite-Bourgeoys, Frédéric Beauchemin.

The two men are not yet officially candidates, unlike former Montreal mayor Denis Coderre, who ran last June.

A few days ago, several media outlets reported that federal Liberal minister Pablo Rodriguez was considering running to succeed Dominique Anglade.

Victoriaville Mayor Antoine Tardif is also being asked to run and has not ruled out the idea of ​​getting involved.

The leadership will begin in January 2025. Dominique Anglade’s successor will be chosen in the summer of that same year.

The next leader of the PLQ will have a lot to do to rebuild his party. His support rate among francophones is meager: 6% according to the latest Léger polls.