Lightbound to run again: ‘Everything in my power’ to beat Poilievre
Peter Black, Local Journalism Initiative reporter
peterblack@qctonline.com
With a federal election likely coming late next year, Louis-Hébert Liberal MP Joël Lightbound says he is planning to run for a fourth term in Parliament.
He said at a July 16 media event, when a reporter asked about his plans, “It’s clear that I intend to run.” (“C’est clair que j’ai l’intention de me représenter.”)
Lightbound first won the suburban Quebec City riding in the 2015 election, beating the New Democratic Party incumbent. He won the subsequent elections in 2019 and 2021 by comfortable margins. He is the first MP in modern times to win Louis-Hébert in two successive elections.
Lightbound said in a Jour- nal de Québec report, “One of my motivations is to do everything in my power so that Mr. [Pierre] Poilievre does not form the government and does not undo policies that are good for prosperity, but also for the environment.”
The MP was likely referring to the Conservative leader’s hard-line opposition to Quebec City’s tramway project, to which he said he would not contribute “one cent” of federal money should he become prime minister.
The Louis-Hébert riding contains key elements of the tramway plan, including a line to Université Laval and the Boul. Laurier shopping district. According to recent projections from the Canada338 polling website, the Conserva- tive Party has a lead in Louis- Hébert, with 80 per cent “odds of winning.” The Liberal Party is second with the Bloc Québécois close behind. The projections are based on national and provincial polling data and do not include the names of candidates or incumbents. Lightbound had expressed an interest last year in run- ning for the leadership of the Quebec Liberal Party. He took himself out of contention in March, citing the impending birth of his first child with his spouse. Their son arrived in June.
The MP’s decision to run again comes in the context of his relationship with the Liberal parliamentary caucus. Lightbound spoke out against his government’s handling of the pandemic crisis in a February 2022 news conference.
Identified as a rising star since his first election at age 27, Lightbound has served as parliamentary secretary to the ministers of health, finance and public safety. His current main parliamentary role is chair of the standing committee on industry and technology.
Lightbound is a graduate of École secondaire de Rochebelle, CEGEP Champlain–St. Lawrence and McGill University law school.
A call to Lightbound’s constituency office had not been returned by press time.