Rimouski

Reford Gardens’ Alexander Reford runs for Liberals in Rimouski

Peter Black, Local Journalism Initiative reporter

peterblack@qctonline.com

Concern about the future of Canada and a personal connection with Liberal Party Leader Mark Carney convinced Alexander Reford, the soon- to-be former director of the Reford Gardens (known in French as the Jardins de Métis), to be a candidate in the April 28 election.

Reford, 62, was acclaimed as the candidate in Rimouski- La Matapédia on March 21, two days before Carney called the federal vote. He has been a resident of the area for 31 years, ever since he took on the task of transforming his family’s estate and gardens on the St. Lawrence River into a world-class botanical and tour- ism destination.

A historian by training and author of several books and other publications, Reford had hit the campaign trail early, meeting with crab fishermen and ski resort operators, from whom he learned “there’s a general anxiety over the future of the economy, which is going to be pushed in a different direction.”

It’s not likely to be an easy race for the rookie politician. Although the riding was re- configured since the last election, the seat has not had a Liberal member since the 1980 election, which brought a majority under Pierre Trudeau.

The current MP is Maxime Blanchette-Joncas of the Bloc Québécois, who wrested the seat from the NDP’s Guy Caron in 2019. Blanchette-Joncas, a former call centre worker and Parti Québécois youth activist, beat the second-place Liberal in the 2021 election by nearly 25 per cent of the vote.

The last time the area had a member in government was when Monique Vézina was a minister in Brian Mulroney’s Progressive Conservative government from 1984-93. Vézina died in December at age 89. The riding voted Bloc until Caron – now mayor of Rimouski – won it in the 2011 Orange Wave.

Reford said, “Frankly, the riding has chosen to be in voluntary exile for a very long time. But I think things have changed, you know, the mood has swung.”

He added, “It’s a new challenge, and I realistically think that with the leadership shown by Mark just over the last two weeks in government, it’s clear that there’s a new orientation, a new direction and hopefully I can be part of that new thing.” Reford’s connection to Carney goes back to when the two were Canadian students at Oxford University – Reford in history, Carney in economics. “So, following his career and having had occasion to read his publications and chat with him, it was easy to convince me that he was the right person for this job.”

It was another mutual Ox- ford friend, former Trudeau justice minister and Montreal MP David Lametti, now an advisor to Carney, who called Reford and said, “It’s time. What do you think?’

The timing coincidentally worked well for Reford, as he is in the process of handing over management of the Reford Gardens to a new team. Preparations are in the works to celebrate the centennial of his great-grandmother Elsie Reford’s gardens this summer.

Reford, recipient of the Order of Canada in 2021, said he’s learning the ropes as a novice political campaigner. “I think this is very interesting, you know. I met more people yes- terday than I had in a month.”

Besides Reford and Blanchette-Joncas, the only other nominated candidate in the riding as of March 23 was Taraneh Javanbakh of the People’s Party of Canada.