Trudeau launched his election campaign today in Quebec folks. And this is the first time he's chosen to do this as against BOTH his 2015 and 2019 campaigns which were kicked off in different Provinces.
In 2019 the Lib's fell down to 35 seats after losing 5 from their 2015 election. Those who remember , they ( the Libs ) lost the popular vote to the conservatives by 1% but managed to hang on by winning 35 seats more thatn the conservatives to secure their 46% Majority Government. Of course this came from a loss of 27 seats from their Majority win in 2015.
So when you look at how the NDP party got pretty much annihilated with their 20 seat loss or ( 3.8% ) at the expense of the Bloc Quebecois party who gained 22 seats off a 3.0% gain in percentage terms of total overall election votes nationwide.
So you get a feel that Quebec will be an important ' Swing ' province carrying substantially a lot more weight on current issues. And this will be particularly emphasized by their having the greatest sacrifice and loss life of ALL the Provinces due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Here's what Trudeau made a point of saying on his first day of the campaign in his own seat in Montreal.
" I started the last campaign in my home in British Columbia. Now I am going to my home in Montreal," he said. "I'm at home everywhere in this country. "
In so far as our ( Sayona Quebec's ) own electoral jurisdiction , the incumbent Minister for the CAC Pierre Dufour who won comfortably the seat of Abitibi-Est at the last Federal Election in 2018 with 37.41% ( against the Libs with 24.81% ) ...looks to be well placed to HOLD this electoral seat..
And it's probably a good thing because he currently holds the Ministerial portfolio position of Forests, Wildlife and Parks as well as being the Minister Responsible for the Abitibi-Témiscamingue Region and the Nord-du-Québec Region where Nemaska , Critical Elements and Galaxy have their operations as well. So continuity and stability of policy should always be considered a good thing in respects to mining project , logistics , and proposed HUB's I would think.
The closest opposition in that electoral seat is from Mr Guy Bourgeois who is the Liberal Candidate and who came second by a considerable margin in the last election. So our focus should definitely be on the ' incumbent ' ....unless the Lib's come up with a better financial package for the region....
So I would think that Pierre Dufour if he is onside with Jobs , regional development , and climate change , he will be the stronger candidate in continuing the drive in fulfilling Sayona's Lithium HUB ambitions for the Val-d'Or region
Of course the current Mayor of Val-d'Or Mr Pierre Corbeil was a former Liberal Minister for Forest Wildlife and Parks and then after that the Minister of Natural Resources and Wildlife so he would also have to have a strong ' bent ' towards supporting Mining in the region and as Val-d'Or is not only one of Quebec's top ranked mining jurisdictions , but also one of the Top mining regions in all of Canada.
So I suspect there will be plenty more relevant news items for the mining sector between now and September 20 as this would be definitely the time that Quebec can really put its hand out for Federal support for any number of significant projects it feels it would like support on. Watch this space I would suggest......
(20min delay)