The gymnasium at Onslow Elementary School in Quyon was packed with Quebec Liberal Party supporters on Saturday for the official nomination of Pontiac MNA André Fortin.
First elected to the National Assembly in 2014, this was Fortin’s fourth nomination as a representative for the party, for which he currently serves as parliamentary leader. He previously served as Transport Minister under Premier Philippe Couillard, as well as the party’s chief whip more recently.
Fortin was joined by recently elected party leader Charles Milliard for the event. MRC Pontiac warden Jane Toller was in attendance, as well as nine of the Pontiac’s 18 mayors: Corey Spence (L’Isle-aux-Allumettes), Ed Walsh (Clarendon), Colleen Larivière (Litchfield), Sandra Armstrong (Mansfield-et-Pontefract), Jean-Louis Corriveau (l’île-du-Grand-Calumet), Jennifer Quaile (Otter Lake), Valerie Twolan-Graham (Bristol), Raymond Pilon (Campbell’s Bay) and Roger Lafond (Rapides-des-Joachims). In addition, Municipality of Pontiac mayor Roger Larose was present with MRC des Collines warden Marc Carrière, as well as Outaouais MPs Greg Fergus and Steven MacKinnon.
Warden Toller gave some opening remarks along with Carrière, throwing her full support behind Fortin.
“On a personal note, André, your integrity and strength of character is noticed every day through the priority you give your family and your constituents. André Fortin has earned our confidence and our support and I’m proud to stand behind him and call him once again the champion of the Pontiac,” she said.
After an introduction from local notary Mireille Alary, Milliard addressed the crowd for roughly 10 minutes, almost entirely in English.
“This is going to be a pretty tough election. We’re going to have a lot of [headwinds] coming our way. But this is a very decisive election for the future of Quebec, a transformational election,” he said.
Milliard gave a nod to his federal counterparts in McKinnon and Fergus, stating that while they might not agree on everything, he was willing to work together. He also acknowledged the difficulties the party has had the previous year, as former leader Pablo Rodriguez resigned in December only months after being elected, due to controversy over leadership race financing irregularities and his firing of then-parliamentary leader Marwah Rizqy. Milliard finished a close second to Rodriguez in the party’s 2025 leadership race and was elected without opposition earlier this year after Rodriguez bowed out.
“We had a bit of a bumpy year in 2025, a lot has happened in the past two years,” he said. “I started having the crazy idea of leading the party, which is the oldest political institution in Quebec. This is a privilege.”
Milliard finished his remarks by stating the importance of Fortin’s role within the party, and possibly the future government.
“It’s been clear to me from day one, but let it be known before all of you today, André will be playing a huge part in the next Liberal government,” he said.
The hall practically shook with chants of “André”, as the man of the hour rose to speak. Fortin, contrastingly, gave the majority of his remarks in French. He highlighted some of the communities currently facing flooding, and thanked Mansfield mayor Armstrong and fire chief Pat Bertrand for their attendance.
Though he did not attend the school where the rally took place, he noted that he once got on the wrong bus as a youngster and attended Onslow temporarily, which garnered some laughs from the crowd. He did say that he chose to hold the rally in his hometown for a reason.
“It’s always felt like home to me and I know a lot of you understand that feeling of when you get close to your home, and how you feel the peace, how you feel different. I get that feeling usually when I hit about Kennedy Road on the 148,” he said.
Reflecting on his fourth nomination for the party, Fortin said that the reason he got into politics was to help people.
“For me, that reason for politics has never changed. Throughout the years, it’s always been the same,” he said “The people around here, they’re good honest hardworking people and they deserve every single opportunity that everyone else across the province gets.”
He closed with the prediction that separatism would rear its head in this fall’s campaign, due to the current popularity of the Parti Québécois.
“The next campaign, the one that is coming up, because the PQ is leading in the polls and because they are proposing what they are, it will be a referendum campaign,” he said. “It will be at the heart of the discussions that we have. They are proposing a project that doesn’t meet a lot of your aspirations [ . . . ] But we also need somebody who is willing, open and proud to lead, if it comes to that, nobody wants it but if it comes to that, proud to lead the ‘No’ camp. The only one is Charles Milliard.”
