Quebec Liberals to choose their new leader in spring 2020

The next leader of the Quebec Liberal Party will be decided in the spring of 2020. The winner will be announced at a conventionin eastern Quebec.

The leadership race will officially begin this fall, under rules made public Sunday at a party meetingin Drummondville, Que.

No one has yet committed to running for the Liberal leadership,seven months after the party suffered a historic defeat in the provincial election.

The party lost more than half its seats in the October vote, after which former premierPhilippe Couillardresigned as party leader and gave up his seat in the National Assembly.

Rules of the game

Party members in good standing will have five days to vote electronically or by telephone for their choice.

Instead of using aone-member one-vote method for choosing their leader,the Liberals have opted for a point system.

The winner must receive more than 50 per centof the total points accumulated from 125 ridings.

If no oneearns the necessary points, a runoff election will be held between the top two candidates.

One third of the points in each district will be reserved for members under 25 years old.

Candidates will be able tospend up to $500,000 in the race, and must submit a $60,000 deposit with the party.

Each aspiring candidate must gain at least 750 signatures from members, including 250 from new members. They must gather those signatures from at least 70 different riding across12 regions in the province.

There will be a total of five debates: two in western Quebec, two in eastern Quebec and one held by the party's youth wing.

One debate will be held in English.

Proulxstill reflecting on running for leader

Opposition House Leader and former ministerSbastien Proulxsaid Sunday that he is still thinking about whether to run for the leadership, even though earlier this year he indicated he wasn't going to enter the race.

Other possible candidates include former Liberal cabinet ministers and current MNAs Dominique Anglade and Gatan Barrette, as well as new MNA Marwah Rizqy.