In the last federal election, the NDP wave scored surprising victories in many ridings across Quebec, including long time Liberal stronghold Pierrefonds-Dollard when Lysane Blanchette-Lamothe's upset veteran Liberal Bernard Patry. With the next vote about two years away, riding associations are starting to prepare themselves.
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| Jordan Gentile |
In Pierrefonds-Dollard, the future is being entrusted in an energetic 21 year old Concordia University Political Science student. Jordan Gentilehas been on the job for a little more than a year now. He worked on present Liberal leader Justin Trudeau’s Papineau riding election in 2011 and decided to pursue the helm of his own local riding when their president, Jean Raymond, stepped down. As if he is not busy enough, Gentile also works as a supervisor of customer service at the head office of the Aldo Group.
Gentile told me that Pierrefonds-Dollard was one of the few ridings in the country not to be affected by redistribution. “Once all of the riding boundaries in the country are formally announced, we will go about picking our candidate,” he says. “We know it will not be easy as the NDP MP has done a lot of work in the riding.”
Who would my star Liberal candidate be? Former Lester B. Pearson School Board president Marcus Tabachnick did not dismiss the possibility when I raised it with him recently.