Milliard seeks buy-in for Liberal brand of federalism

PLQ leadership front-runner Milliard seeks buy-in for Liberal brand of federalism

Sherbrooke Record · 25 days ago
by Matthew Mccully · News


Ruby Pratka
The Record – LJI

With one month to go before the deadline for Quebec Liberal Party (QLP) candidates to put their names forward, two months before a leader is named and ten months before the next general election, a clear frontrunner has emerged, and he lives in the Townships.

North Hatley resident Charles Milliard, who finished a close second in the race that saw Pablo Rodriguez become party leader last summer, is the first and so far the only would-be leader to officially file his candidacy, and he has already received the support of most of the party’s 18 MNAs. He plans to run in the riding of Orford.

Milliard is a licensed pharmacist, a former executive at the Uniprix pharmacy chain and the public relations firm National, and the former head of the Fédération des chambres de commerce du Québec (FCCQ). Before stepping down to focus on his campaign, he was executive-in-residence at Bishop’s University. Assuming he wins the leadership, he faces an uphill battle rebuilding the QLP’s support outside of Montreal and threading the needle between winning back the support of nationalist francophone voters who have shifted to the Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ) over the last decade, and assuaging the concerns of anglophones and committed federalists about the Parti Québécois (PQ) push for sovereignty. “Unfortunately, my opponent is always bringing the discussion back to identity and separation. I’m going to have to have very clear answers about that. But this is not the reason I’m getting into politics. The reason is economy, health care, education, culture and so on.” He also hopes to “bring more kindness into politics.”

Milliard, 46, joined the QLP at 18 and has been a member for his entire adult life; he said he was a member of the federal Progressive Conservative party in the 1990s but began supporting the federal Liberals when the Conservatives shifted further to the right. Although he has never held elected office, he said the QLP has always been his “political family.”

He left his position at the FCCQ in 2024 to tour the province and run for the Liberal leadership. After finishing second to Rodriguez, he was named executive-in-residence at Bishop’s – a “true privilege” which gave him the opportunity to work in English and see the higher education system from the inside out.