Action démocratique du Québec candidates in the 2008 Quebec provincial election explained
The Action démocratique du Québec (ADQ) party ran a full slate of 125 candidates in the 2008 provincial election and elected seven members to emerge as the third-largest party in the legislature.
Candidates
Michael Perzow
Mario Charpentier
Mario Charpentier was born in Saint-Hyacinthe, Quebec. He has a Bachelor of Laws degree from the Université de Sherbrooke (1985) and was called to the Bar of Quebec in 1986. He helped found the firm BCF LLP in 1995 and remains a partner as of 2010.[5] Before joining the ADQ, he was a member of the Quebec Liberal Party.[6]
He was the ADQ's vice-president in the buildup to the 2008 election and helped draft the party's economic platform. In November 2008, he contradicted party leader Mario Dumont on a proposed increase to Quebec's minimum wage. (Dumont had said the ADQ would likely support an increase, while Charpentier said that it was not appropriate policy during an economic downturn. Charpentier later nuanced his position.)[7] He received 5,073 votes (16.65%) in the election, finishing third against Liberal Party incumbent Pierre Paradis.
Charpentier became ADQ party president in December 2008, when Tom Pentefountas resigned the position after the party's disappointing performance in the 2008 election.[8] He resigned from the position in November 2009 following reports that he offered to donate money to Gilles Taillon in the party's 2009 leadership contest when he was supposed to have remained neutral.[9] Taillon announced his own resignation shortly thereafter.
Tom Pentefountas
He has represented several high-profile clients, including a person accused in early 2000 of plotting to bomb Israeli diplomatic buildings in Canada. (The Royal Canadian Mounted Police later acknowledged that they may have arrested the wrong person, and the defendant was acquitted in November 2000.[12]) Pentefountas also represented the man who ultimately pleaded guilty to murdering actress Denise Morelle.[13]
Pentefountas first ran for the ADQ in a 2004 by-election in the west Montreal division of Nelligan, focusing his campaign on improving public transit.[14] He finished fourth against Liberal Party candidate Yolande James.
He was elected as ADQ president in September 2007, replacing Gilles Taillon. In this capacity, he was commissioned with improving the party's fortunes in Montreal.[15] He resigned the position in December 2008, after the party's disappointing performance in the 2008 election.[16] Pentefountas himself was defeated in a Laval division.
Pentefountas is of Greek background and is fluent in English, French, and Greek.[17]
Serge Charette
Charette joined the ADQ in 1997 and has run for the party four provincial elections. He has also sought election at the municipal level.[19] Thirty-nine years old in 2003, he called in that year's election for private medical clinics that could remain open twenty-four hours a day.[20]
He supported Éric Caire in the 2009 ADQ leadership election.
Pierre Harvey
Pierre Harvey was born in Sherbrooke and has a Master's degree from Long Island University. He began working in international trade in 1992.[21] In 2004, he wrote a lengthy public letter calling for the Canadian government to decentralize its authority into five regions: the Maritimes, Quebec, Ontario, the west, and British Columbia.[22] He has also written against the Canadian Firearms Registry.[23]
Harvey ran for a Sherbrooke City Council seat in 2005, without success.[24] Forty-one years old during the 2008 election, he worked as chief development officer of the Musée de la Nature et des Sciences de Sherbrooke and was president of a private elementary school. His provincial campaign was based, in part, around a plan to decentralize Quebec's education system.[25] He also made an effort to reach out to anglophone voters.[26]
He is not to be confused with a different Pierre Harvey who ran for the ADQ in a Montreal riding in the 2007 provincial election.[27]
Patrick Fournier
Patrick Fournier was born in Saint-Hyacinthe, Quebec.[28] He moved to Saint-Denis-sur-Richelieu in 2006 and joined the ADQ in January 2007.[29] He was thirty-two years old at the time of the election, with experience as a salesman of electrical materials. He received 3,126 votes (12.67%), finishing third against Parti Québécois incumbent Sylvain Simard.
Notes and References
- Paul Delean, "Local entrepreneur wants to be Quebec's studhorse man," Montreal Gazette, 5 March 2001, F7.
- Alan D. Gray, "Suzy Shier looks south," Montreal Gazette, 10 January 1994, D3.
- Paul Delean and Philip Authier, "No funds for horseracing," Montreal Gazette, 28 August 2008, B1.
- http://www2.electionsquebec.qc.ca/corpo/francais/elections-generales-provincial.asp?bsq=Argenteuil§ion=resultats_gen&even=%272008%27&mode=%27n3%27#resul Official Results, Le Directeur général des élections du Québec
- http://www.bcf.ca/en/trouver/equipe-resultats-details.asp?fiche_id=6 BCF Team: Mario Charpentier
- http://www.cyberpresse.ca/la-voix-de-lest/elections-provinciales/200811/07/01-37185-mario-charpentier-affronte-un-monument.php Cynthia St-Hilaire, "Mario Charpentier «affronte un monument>>"
- "Rift opens in ADQ; Minimum wage," Montreal Gazette, 8 November 2008, A13.
- Kevin Dougherty, "Charest, Marois expected to sort out holiday schedule early next week," Montreal Gazette, 13 December 2008, A11.
- Kevin Dougherty, "Charest woos disgruntled ADQ members," 20 November 2009, A11; Jennifer Ditchburn, "Tory Senator Leo Housakos directs questions about ADQ financing back to party," Canadian Press, 10 November 2009; Graeme Hamilton, "ADQ leader quits after three weeks on job; 'Sterile infighting'", National Post, 11 November 2009, A8. Charpentier was succeeded by Christian Lévesque.
- https://web.archive.org/web/20070103021507/http://www.bibliotheque.assnat.qc.ca/01/PER/808738/2004/2004-08-23.pdf La Lettre Adéquiste
- http://www.courrierlaval.com/Actualites/Politique/2008-11-24/article-1136210/Tom-Pentefountas/1 Stéphane St-Amour, "Tom Pentefountas," Courrier Laval, 24 November 2008, accessed 12 December 2008.
- "Embassy bombing threat cited; Israeli buildings targeted by group," Toronto Star, 8 March 2000, p. 1; George Kalogerakis, "May have arrested wrong man, RCMP says," National Post, 11 March 2000, A5; Tu Thanh Ha, "Refugee acquitted on bomb charges," Globe and Mail, 18 November 2000, A15.
- "Man charged with murder in 1984 slaying of actress," Globe and Mail, 10 August 2007, A6; Les Perreaux, "Long-unsolved murder of actor ends with guilty plea in Quebec," Toronto Star, 17 November 2007, A4.
- Philip Authier, "'Confident' Charest announces date for by-elections," Montreal Gazette, 17 August 2004, A9; Alycia Ambroziak, "Nelligan by-election is heating up," Montreal Gazette, 2 September 2004, F10.
- Philip Authier, "Anglos look closer at ADQ as an alternative to Liberals," Montreal Gazette, 1 October 2007, A1.
- Kevin Dougherty, "Charest, Marois expected to sort out holiday schedule early next week," Montreal Gazette, 13 December 2008, A11.
- Philip Authier, "Anglos look closer at ADQ as an alternative to Liberals," Montreal Gazette, 1 October 2007, A1; Peter G. White, "Anglophones should take a second look at the ADQ," Montreal Gazette, 26 November 2007, A19.
- http://pages.videotron.com/papineau/_private/biographie.htm Qui est Serge Charette
- http://www.info07.com/Politique/2009-09-29/article-670435/Serge-Charette-candidat-dans-Bellevue/1 Yannick Boursier, Serge Charette, candidat dans Bellevue
- Paul Gessell, "Papineau: Liberals hold on to thin margins," Ottawa Citizen, 31 March 2003, D2.
- https://archive.today/20120913041721/http://www.lerefletdulac.com/Affaires/2008-02-18/article-733217/LADQ-Orford-courtise-Pierre-Harvey/1 Dany Jacques, "L'ADQ Orford courtise Pierre Harvey"
- Pierre Harvey, "June 21st results : A unique opportunity to rethink Canada" [letter/editorial], Sherbrooke Record, 7 July 2004, p. 6.
- Pierre Harvey, "Meet your new municipal councils" [letter], Montreal Gazette, 22 September 2010, A22.
- "Meet your new municipal councils," Sherbrooke Record, 7 November 2005, p. 9.
- http://www.cyberpresse.ca/la-tribune/estrie/200810/01/01-25398-pierre-harvey-candidat-pour-ladq-dans-orford.php Jean François-Gagnon, "Pierre Harvey candidat pour l'ADQ dans Orford"
- Rita Legault, "Orford and its five way race," Sherbrooke Record, 4 December 2008, p. 1.
- http://www.canada.com/montrealgazette/news/insight/story.html?id=0be52964-9339-4472-81cb-888ea4ba2926 "Gilles Taillon's a star candidate. After that, the ADQ roster's a little thin"
- http://monteregieweb.com/Mon_Sorel-Tracy/main+fr+01_300+Le_candidat_de_lADQ__Patrick_Fournier.html?ArticleID=550559&JournalID=9 Louise Grégoire-Racicot, "Le candidat de l’ADQ : Patrick Fournier,"
- http://www.soreltracyregion.net/actualite/page/election/s/pfournier Patrick Fournier
