The CAQ holds the palm over the number of skydivers. With the formalization of her candidacy in Chutes-de-la-Chaudière on Wednesday, Martine Biron became the 49th candidatee Caquiste who lives outside of the horse riding she wants to represent.
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Ms. Biron lives in Quebec and will be running on the south coast of the capital. However, the party states that Ms Biron’s mother lived at the Chutes-de-la-Chaudière equestrian center for 30 years when she was principal there.
His colleague Bernard Drainville, who lives near Québec and will be running in Lévis, recognized immediately that he knew the people at his horse farm “a little, but not enough,” and promised to spend a lot of time driving there.
Caroline St-Hilaire, candidate at Sherbrooke
As for Caroline St-Hilaire, who lives about fifty kilometers from Sherbrooke, where she presents herself, she expresses above all her “love affair” with the Estrie region.
So far, the CAQ has 43% of candidates living outside their district (the electoral law does not oblige them to do so). In comparison, Québec solidaire performs better with 38 external candidates (33%).
“Obviously, when someone is well established in their constituency and has ties to a whole range of organizations, that’s an asset that a candidate can play with to show they’ll be close to their constituents, but it’s not one Guarantee of success,” explains UQAM political scientist André Lamoureux.
In a parachute star candidacy, people there can see aspiring ministers. “People can vote on that, that also plays into the scale,” adds the political scientist.
attraction of power
It is also logical that a party in power with favorable poll numbers would field more candidates. The stars are more crowded there and it’s good “to put them somewhere,” says Mr. Lamoureux.
A parachute candidate is also sometimes a “post” candidate in a place where he has little chance of being elected. For example, QS’s Marieve Ruel lives in Jonquière, but she turns up almost 500 km away in Robert-Baldwin in Montreal.
Limited Effect
Furthermore, according to studies on the issue, a candidate’s influence – whether parachuted or not – on the outcome of an election is limited because people mostly vote for one leader and one party.
And of the five party leaders, only Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois of QS lives at his riding stables.
Fun fact: Isabelle Melançon, Liberal MP for Verdun, lives at the L’Assomption stables. While François Legault, CAQ MP for L’Assomption, lives in Verdun county.
– With the collaboration of Pascal Dugas Bourdon, Charles Mathieu and Nicolas Brasseur
Number of parachute candidates for each party*
Of the approximately 425 announced candidates, almost 40% are skydivers. However, some may live very close by, particularly in metropolitan France. Others may have grown up in the area but no longer live there.
- CAQ: 49/113 | 43%
- QA: 38/114 | 33%
For the following parties, the number of announced candidates is too small or the information provided by the parties does not allow comparison. But so far we have:
- QLP: 26/62 | 42%
- QP: 23/54 | 43%
- PCQ: 25/83 | 30%
* The number of candidates refers to the total number whose addresses were determined. It may differ slightly from the total number of announced applications.
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