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MONTREAL – In the final stretch of a Montreal byelection campaign widely seen as a referendum on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s leadership, the Liberal candidate wants people to focus on her — not her leader.

The byelection in LaSalle—Émard—Verdun should have been Laura Palestini’s to lose. The area has been a Liberal bastion, by and large, for decades. A diverse riding in Montreal’s southwest, it has a large anglophone population with strong Italian roots in some neighbourhoods.

But this time, it’s hard to predict what will happen when polls close on Monday. After nine years in power, surveys show the Liberals trailing the Conservatives in every part of the country except Quebec. And even here in Montreal, a riding that should have been a given is now up for grabs.

What little polling there is suggests a three-way race between the Liberals, New Democrats and Bloc Québécois. A Mainstreet Research poll this week put the Bloc in the lead.

Palestini seems to be trying not to dwell on all of that. In an interview while door-knocking in LaSalle on Thursday, she repeated several times that it’s her name on the ballot — in other words, not Trudeau’s.

“It’s about me. It’s not about the PM,” she said. “I will let myself be the … prime focus of this election.”

LaSalle is friendly turf for Palestini, and it showed when she went door to door. She spoke to an elderly woman in Italian, pointing out where to find her name on a scaled-down version of the nearly metre-long ballot voters will have to navigate on Monday.

A record 91 candidates are on the ballot for this byelection, most affiliated with a group protesting Canada’s first-past-the-post voting system. Palestini wants to be sure no one has trouble finding her in the sea of names.

A couple out for a walk — Pat Goill and Harold Layer — told Palestini she can count on them. Give him a chance, they told The Canadian Press afterward, when asked about Trudeau’s declining popularity. They’ve always voted Liberal.

Palestini is well known in LaSalle. A lifelong resident, she has been a municipal councillor for 19 years. Élisabeth and Yannick, a couple with young children, said they’re happy with the services in the neighbourhood, including a new library and skate park. They cast their ballots for Palestini in the advance polls.

Of the riding’s disparate neighbourhoods, LaSalle is the most staunchly Liberal. Getting out the vote here is a key part of Palestini’s strategy. “The reception is extremely positive,” she said. “I’ve had five mandates at the municipal level, so definitely I’m already at an advantage because when I do knock on a door, many people will recognize me.”

Elsewhere, though, it’s a different picture. In nearby Ville-Émard, Sylvie Sagala said she’ll likely vote Bloc — maybe NDP. “Trudeau doesn’t have good ratings these days,” she said. “A little change wouldn’t hurt.”

The NDP and Bloc are pulling out all the stops to take the seat from the Liberals. NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh has visited several times to support his candidate, city Coun. Craig Sauvé, who told The Canadian Press last week that his party has the biggest army of volunteers in the riding.

Bloc Leader Yves-François Blanchet was in the riding Wednesday with a delegation of MPs, urging supporters not to get complacent. “It’s certain that if the Bloc Québécois wins in LaSalle—Émard—Verdun, it will send a very strong message to Ottawa,” said Bloc candidate Louis-Philippe Sauvé.

In contrast, Palestini has given few interviews through the campaign, and Trudeau has kept a relatively low profile. His face is not on campaign posters, and some mailers don’t mention his name at all. He visited the riding in August, and stopped by again on Friday to visit a seniors home in LaSalle. The event was closed to media.

Asked about the byelection at a press conference in the Montreal area on Friday, Trudeau took aim at the NDP for deciding last week to end the supply-and-confidence agreement that had helped keep the Liberal minority government afloat. He accused Singh of “caving to the political pressures” from the Conservatives.

“That’s not what Montrealers expect and deserve,” he said.

Trudeau aside, a steady stream of Liberal ministers has visited the riding in recent weeks. On Thursday, Palestini’s entourage included Liberal Party campaign co-chair and Tourism Minister Soraya Martinez Ferrada.

In an interview, Ferrada downplayed the stakes of Monday’s results. “I would remind people that we have lost byelections and won general elections,” she said. “We’re doing everything humanly possible to make sure that we are winning this riding. We don’t take anything for granted. But the main focus is getting ready for the general election.”

Nevertheless, a loss in LaSalle-Émard-Verdun would sound a dire warning for the Liberals, especially after they lost another former stronghold to the Conservatives in a Toronto byelection in June. That surprise defeat prompted calls for Trudeau to step aside, though he has insisted he will lead the party into the next election, which could happen anytime in the coming year.

The Conservatives are not likely to be competitive this time around. Candidate Louis Ialenti, who describes himself on LinkedIn as a “sartorial, legal and entrepreneurial enthusiast,” recently told The Canadian Press he’s knocked on 15,000 doors.

The Tories’ Quebec lieutenant, Pierre Paul-Hus, said doubling the party’s vote share from the last election would be a success. In 2021, the Conservatives took home a little less than eight per cent of the vote.

But Philippe J. Fournier, creator of poll aggregator 338Canada, said it’s impossible to know whether the Liberals, NDP or Bloc will win on Monday.

“This is one of the rare times that I publicly say that I truly have no idea,” he said. “Anybody who tells you with certainty, ‘Oh this person is going to win,’ they are fooling themselves.”

If the Liberals lose, Fournier said, they could be looking at winning just 50 to 65 seats across the country in the next election, out of 343. “We’re in blowout territory,” he said.

Palestini insisted she’s not focusing on “anything negative” in the last days before the vote. “This election remains my campaign. It’s my name that’s on the ballot,” she said. “And I have no reason to think of this election in any other way.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 15, 2024.

— With files from Stéphane Blais and Morgan Lowrie

MONTREAL – Julia Dougall-Picard swings into action when customers settle in for lunch at Frite Alors in Montreal’s downtown Quartier Latin neighbourhood.

The 20-year-old works as a server at the popular restaurant chain, dishing out burgers and beers several times a week.

She takes home a low hourly wage, making up the difference through tips left by the restaurant’s customers. But the amount of money she’ll make on each sale is about to change.

Quebec tabled a bill on Thursday that would regulate how merchants determine suggested tips, forcing businesses to calculate them based on the price before tax.

On a restaurant bill of $100, for instance, suggested tips would be calculated as a percentage of $100, not the after-tax total of $114.98.

Quebec’s minister responsible for consumer protection, Simon Jolin-Barrette, said Thursday that there is a “growing pressure around tips,” and people often end up paying more than they intend. But workers in the province’s restaurants and bars are divided about the effect the legislation will have on the industry and the people it employs.

For Dougall-Picard’s part, the change is welcome.

“I don’t really mind the change. Honestly, to me it’s just a few dollars or cents and it doesn’t change much to my life, and as a customer, I’d rather be paying tips on what I ordered and not on the taxes,” she said in an interview.

Even though Dougall-Picard makes the bulk of her earnings from tips, she thinks the province’s proposed calculation system may actually prod patrons to be more generous.

“We really rely on tips as waiters and waitresses because our salary is lower than minimum wage, so I think that maybe if people … don’t have to tip on top of the taxes that … it might encourage people to tip more,” she said.

But Jaskaran Singh, manager at restaurant Arriba Burrito located a bit further down the bustling neighbourhood strip, is disappointed.

“It’s never been actually a law to tip to a server, and I’ve been a server for a while, … serving in a lot of restaurants before this one too, and it’s always been hard that our minimum wage is very low,” he said.

Singh says the restaurant regularly deals with customers, usually tourists, who refuse to tip.

Further down the street, Marc-Antoine Bourdages, who manages the resto-bar Brasseurs du Monde, says he is okay with the change.

“I don’t mind it at all,” he said, adding that he does not think most clients are aware that suggested tips are calculated on after-tax totals.

But Bourdages admits the bartenders and waiters he manages – who rely on tips for a large part of their income – likely do not share his view. “I’m pretty sure I stand alone with that idea. My staff’s not going to be happy with that,” he said.

Martin Vézina, vice-president of public affairs at the Quebec Restaurant Association, says the change will leave dining room staff with fewer dollars in their pockets but won’t have a significant impact on the industry at large.

Although restaurants choose the percentages for suggested tips, Vézina says the payment processing companies that provide point of sale terminals are in fact the ones who program the tip suggestions on top of the amount after tax.

“It doesn’t cause that much trouble for the industry,” he said, explaining that restaurant owners may even end up paying less in credit card fees on tips as well as less income tax on declared tips.

But he also sees the bill as a missed opportunity to implement measures regarding “no-show” reservations, when customers book a restaurant table but never turn up. He says no-shows cost Quebec restaurants an average of $47,000 per year.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 15, 2024.

HAMILTON – It remains faint but Bo Levi Mitchell and the Hamilton Tiger-Cats still have a playoff pulse.

Mitchell threw two touchdown passes as Hamilton defeated the Ottawa Redblacks 37-21 in the CFL’s annual Hall of Fame game Saturday afternoon. The Ticats (4-9) earned a second straight win to move to within six points of the third-place Toronto Argonauts (7-6) in the East Division.

Hamilton visits Toronto on Friday night.

“Obviously they’re (wins) huge now,” Mitchell said. “We didn’t do ourselves any favours by getting into this position and not being able to really control our own destiny.

“But right now, we need certain people to win at certain times. Our job is to go out there and try to win the next five, then the next three after that.”

Mitchell finished 20-of-27 passing for 299 yards and an interception. He entered weekend action leading the CFL in passing yards (3,383) and TD strikes (21).

Greg Bell’s 15-yard TD run at 11:30 of the fourth and two-point convert put Hamilton up 36-21 after backup Jeremiah Masoli led Ottawa on two scoring drives. Following a 13-yard TD strike to Andre Miller at 2:53, Masoli found Dominique Rhymes on a 10-yard touchdown pass at 7:43 before Khalan Laborn’s two-point convert cut Hamilton’s lead to 29-21.

“When you’re scoring from (15) yards out on a run play, that makes offence easy,” Mitchell said. “It’s one of those things when you get down there as a quarterback, it takes you sometimes five, eight, 10 plays and now it’s ‘OK, now we have to create some stuff and find something.’

“When you hand the ball off and you’re scoring from (15) yards, it makes the offence really easy.”

Ottawa (8-4-1) would have clinched a playoff spot with a victory.

Ottawa committed six turnovers (three interceptions, two fumbles, once on downs) before an announced Tim Hortons Field gathering of 22,119. Lawrence Woods III also returned a punt 83 yards for a touchdown at 11:51 of the first quarter that put Hamilton ahead 10-3.

“You’ve got to bring your best every single week and this wasn’t our best, all of us, from coaches to the players,” said Ottawa head coach Bob Dyce. “If you don’t play great for four quarters, I don’t care who you’re playing you’re not going to have a successful day.

“We should’ve made the tackle (on Woods), we had him wrapped up it’s that simple. Even though we didn’t make the play on that, there should’ve been extra bodies there to clean it up when he did break the tackle.”

Hamilton also tied the season series with Ottawa 1-1. The teams meet again at TD Place on Oct. 25.

“If we didn’t turn it over today I would’ve said we played really well offensively and that to me is what the biggest difference is,” said Hamilton head coach Scott Milanovich. “Even the turnovers today (interception, fumble), at least they were in their end and we weren’t giving them a short field.

“The biggest play of the game was Woodsie’s return. It got us jump-started, gave us the lead and we were kind of off after that.”

Ottawa starter Dru Brown was 17-of-27 passing for 164 yards and an interception. Masoli entered late in the third and finished 13-of-19 passing for 183 yards with two TDs and two interceptions, but Dyce said Brown will start next weekend against Montreal (10-2-1), which earned a 19-19 tie Saturday night with Calgary (4-8-1).

The Canadian Football Hall of Fame’s ’24 class of S.J. Green, Chad Owens, Weston Dressler, Vince Goldsmith and Vince Coleman, along with builders Ray Jauch and Ed Laverty (posthumously), was honoured at halftime. All were enshrined Friday night.

Steven Dunbar Jr. and Ante Litre had Hamilton’s other touchdowns. Marc Liegghio kicked two field goals, three converts and two singles.

Ottawa’s Lewis Ward booted two field goals and a convert.

Mitchell culminated a five-play, 96-yard march with a 20-yard TD pass to Litre at 13:34 of the third. It followed Jonathan Moxey’s interception.

Liegghio’s single at 7:05 of the third put Hamilton up 22-6.

Mitchell’s 54-yard TD strike to Dunbar at 14:18 of the second staked Hamilton to its 21-6 halftime lead. The advantage was well-deserved as the Ticats had more first downs (12-six), net offensive yards (260-144) and scored on both offence and special teams.

Mitchell was 14-of-20 passing for 210 yards and a TD, but his interception cost Hamilton at least a field-goal attempt. Dunbar had five receptions for 113 yards and the touchdown.

Brown completed 13-of-21 passes for 127 yards.

Liegghio’s missed 47-yard attempt went for the single at 12:45 to put Hamilton ahead 14-6. It followed a Kiondre Smith catch that was ruled incomplete and at the very least cost the Ticats a first down that would’ve kept the drive alive.

Ward’s 30-yard kick at 9:15 had pulled Ottawa to within 13-6.

Liegghio’s 19-yard field goal at 5:13 pushed Hamilton’s lead to 13-3. It followed the defence stopping Ottawa’s Dustin Crum on third-and-one, giving the Ticats possession at the Redblacks 40.

Liegghio’s 47-yard field goal opened the scoring at 2:42 before Ward tied in with a 24-yard boot at 8:44.

UP NEXT

Redblacks: Host the Montreal Alouettes (10-2-1) next Saturday, Sept. 21.

Tiger-Cats: Visit the Toronto Argonauts (7-6) on Friday.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 14, 2024.