Says an independent can do so much more for Chomedey’s constituents
For those who may not already have heard it through the grapevine, incumbent Member of the National Assembly for Chomedey Sona Lakhoyan Olivier has made it official.
Yes, she is running for a second term, albeit as an independent candidate, rather than as a Liberal Party of Quebec candidate, as she might have preferred.
After leaving the question of her candidacy for a new mandate open these last few months, Lakhoyan Olivier made waves in the past few weeks when it was revealed that her campaign posters for the October 5 election drew the ire of Quebec Liberal Party officials.
Stylized ‘L’ upset the PLQ
The posters, according to the PLQ, made use of a stylized L that resembled a character in the Liberal Party of Quebec logo so much, they claimed, it would confuse voters.
In an interview earlier this week with The Laval News, Lakhoyan Olivier said that since becoming an independent MNA last December when she was expelled from the PLQ, she had become aware of the advantages conferred on independent MNAs, compared to sitting as a member of an organized party.
“With a party where there is a party line to be followed, having projects that are close to the people of Chomedey, sometimes they were not a priority because it was always the party that gets priority,” she said.
Perks of an independent MNA
“And when I became independent, I found out that there was so much more that I could do,” she continued, noting that her privileges in the National Assembly as an independent were almost like those of a full-fledged party organization.
While maintaining that as an independent she could table motions or declarations without first having to seek approval from the PLQ, Lakhoyan said, “I was able to represent the people as they should be right away without waiting for the right moment. So, it gave me a lot more liberty.”
On that basis, she said she will be asking the voters of Chomedey to support her at the ballot box, “so I can continue to serve and complete what I started representing the citizens of Chomedey. I’m asking for a second mandate, as an independent this time. Let’s show that Chomedey is independent and cannot be muzzled.”
Chomedey’s unresolved issues
Among the shortcomings in Chomedey that Lakhoyan Olivier said have never been addressed and she would like to bring forward are the riding’s lack of a large sports staging venue, as well as better resources to deal with immigration issues for Chomedey’s highly multicultural population.
“Let’s make history in Chomedey,” she added, noting that the last time Chomedey had an independent provincial representative for any length of time was back in the mid-1960s. “Our politics are becoming so partisan. What has become of democracy? Why are we going only with a party?”
As for the controversial campaign posters, Lakhoyan Olivier said she and her team had fewer than a dozen printed, and they agreed, after receiving a legal notice from the PLQ, to cover the offending L with a sticker to conceal it. A new batch of campaign posters eliminated the problem, she added.
