Coalition Avenir Quebec MNA Gerard Deltell raises his PC membership card from 1981 as he announces he's quitting the CAQ and joining the Conservative Party of Canada for the upcoming federal election, Tuesday, April 7, 2015 in Quebec City.Jacques Boissinot/The Canadian Press
A longtime member of the Quebec legislature is jumping to the federal Conservatives as Prime Minister Stephen Harper pushes for further inroads in the province.
Gerard Deltell of the Coalition for Quebec's Future will seek the Tory nomination in the Quebec City riding of Louis-Saint-Laurent.
Deltell, 50, has represented the riding of Chauveau since 2008, at first for the now-defunct Action democratique du Quebec and, since 2012, for the Coalition.
"I am blue, true blue, an old blue," he told a news conference Tuesday. "I'm coming back home and I'm really happy about it."
The Tories won five out of 75 seats in Quebec in 2011 after winning 10 three years earlier.
If, as expected, Deltell does win the nomination, his experience would likely stand him in good stead in this fall's federal election and could serve as a springboard for the Conservatives in the Quebec City region.
Deltell said he will forgo a severance payment of $114,000 as well as a total of $388,000 in pension to which he would be eligible over the next 15 years.
He was asked about leaving provincial politics just a year into his mandate – the election was held last April 7 – and forcing the government to call a costly byelection.
Deltell said switching to federal politics was not in his initial plans and that he finally made the decision after listening to his constituents who urged him to take the plunge.
The former journalist will not be acclaimed the Tory candidate in Louis-Saint-Laurent. Nathalie D'Amours, the former president of an association that represents daycare workers, announced on Facebook a few days ago she would seek the nomination.
Alexandrine Latendresse won the riding for the NDP in 2011 with a narrow margin but has announced she won't seek re-election. G. Daniel Caron, a former Canadian ambassador to Ukraine, will represent the party.