By Canadian Press

Ex-Quebec minister will run to replace Stephane Dion in Montreal riding: source

Feb 10, 2017 | 10:30 AM

MONTREAL — An ex-Quebec immigration minister will seek the federal Liberal nomination for an upcoming byelection in Stephane Dion’s old Montreal riding, a source told The Canadian Press on Friday.

Yolande James is also known in Quebec for her recent stint as a political pundit on Radio-Canada.

No date has yet been set for the byelection but the race in Saint-Laurent riding is already looking crowded, with others having confirmed interest for the Liberal nomination in what is considered a safe seat for the party.

Alan DeSousa, the current mayor of the Montreal borough of Saint-Laurent — where the riding is located — announced Friday he is in the race.

And businessman and financier Francois Lambert, a former dragon on Quebec’s version of “Dragons’ Den,” said he is considering a run.

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“Is it good timing for me?” Lambert asked in an interview. “I think so, but we’ll have to see what each candidate brings and then we’ll see what’s best for the (Liberal) party.

“James and DeSousa are also well-known. It’s not a popularity contest and it should be a race for the right reasons.”

Tax law professor Marwah Rizqy has also confirmed her candidacy for the Liberals.

She ran for the party in the 2015 election and finished a few hundred votes behind the New Democratic Party candidate in a Montreal riding considered a lost cause for the Grits.

James has not agreed to interviews but a spokesman for Radio-Canada said she told the public broadcaster earlier in the week she was leaving her TV spot.

She was immigration minister in Jean Charest’s Quebec cabinet between 2007 and 2010.

Dion, MP for the area since 1996, quit politics recently and was then named ambassador to the European Union and Germany.

The Canadian Press