Liberals working on retaking Outremont

By Mike Cohen

The personality of new federal Liberal Party leader Michael Ignatieff, not to mention a rise in the polls provincially, has the one-time big red machine thinking it can take back the Outremont riding from Thomas Mulcair and the NDP. Lawyer Martin Cauchon, who formerly held the riding when he served in the Liberal cabinet, is reportedly considering a comeback. But Iggy is also courting prominent French-language journalist Alain Dubuc of La Presse. The last time the Grits opted for a journalist was Jocelyn Coulon, who got squashed by Mulcair in a 2007 by-election.

When Cauchon retired to go into private practice, Jean Lapierre was parachuted in. He served in then Prime Minister Paul Martin’s cabinet, but did not win either of two elections by a landslide. Meanwhile, with a terribly weak Liberal leader in Stéphane Dion, Mulcair only beat his Grit competitor Sébastien Dhavernas by a little more than 2,000 votes last fall. Dhavernas reportedly has an organization in place selling memberships, fueling speculation he will try for the nomination again.
This Outremont riding had been Liberal since 1935, except for one Progressive Conservative win in 1988 by Jean-Pierre Hogue, Liberal Marc Lalonde, a Trudeau-era cabinet minister, won in 1972, 1974, 1979 and 1980. Liberal Lucie Pépin won in 1984, but was defeated in 1988 by Hogue. Cauchon scored three decisive victories in 1993, 1997 and 2000 before Lapierre stepped in for the  2004 and 2006 votes.

Tory Appointments: It has been 16 years since Gerry Weiner last served with the Tory government in Ottawa. Since then the pharmacist by profession has served on Montreal city council and even returned behind the counter to fill prescriptions. But he has never lost his connection with the Conservative Party of Canada. Last week that paid off when he was one of two new appointments to the board of directors of the Old Port of Montreal Corporation. The Canada Lands Company Limited (CLCL) also gave the nod to noted architect Anis A. Nazar, and former Concordia University Rector Patrick Kenniff and Tasha Kheiriddin, head of the Quebec arm of the Fraser Institute, had their three-year terms renewed.

COHEN CHATTER: Spotted at KOKO Restaurant + Bar at the Opus Hotel Montreal last week was actress Elisha Cuthbert, with a bottle of vodka on the terrace. She was with her sister Lianne. Melanie Fiona, the Canadian R&B singer and the opening act for Stevie Wonder’s Jazz Festival performance, dropped into KOKO for a pre-show snack and drink, with her boyfriend Adam Rodriguez, who stars as Eric Delco on CSI Miami….RTNDA Canada, the association of electronic journalists, handed out its Central Region awards at a banquet in Toronto last week and CTV Montreal came out a winner. Todd van der Heyden took home the Dan McArthur Award for In-Depth/Investigative Reporting for Shelter in Crisis on the SPCA and Ann Lewis won the Dave Rogers Award for Long Feature for her story on Post Traumatic Stress Disorder among Canadian solders. This is the same story that won the Murrow Award from RTNDA International…Global TV Quebec will be on the cutting edge of even more breaking news at the end of the summer when they relocate their newsroom and set to The Montreal Gazette building downtown. Since Global’s arrival in Quebec 11 years ago they have been based at the headquarters of Quebecor-owned TVA. Can a Gazette city column by Jamie Orchard or a crime probe by Domenic Fazioli be far behind? How about a Global sports commentary by Stu Cowan?...The Bitter End,  a completely live and improvised sitcom which plays Le Gymnase (4177 St. Denis) as part of Just For Laughs Zoofest July 16-19 and 21-26, will also launch a web series in the fall.

Item of interest? E-mail mcohen@thesuburban.comcall 514-484-1107, ext. 307 or fax 514-483-7213.