Former Magog Mayor Vicki-May Hamm recently committed to joining the Quebec Liberal Party as a candidate in Orford, where she hopes to oust Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ) MNA Gilles Bélanger and bring the riding back into the liberal fold.
Hamm told The Record that she always knew provincial politics would be her next career challenge. She just didn’t know which party she wanted to align with before entering the ring. She had offers from both the QLP and CAQ. And ultimately it came down to her core values.
“After some reflection, and meeting with Dominique Anglade, I decided that the Liberal Party was better for my core values for a lot of reasons,” Hamm said in a phone interview, adding she was persuaded by Anglade’s vision for Quebec and the QLP’s team-first mentality.
Following her official announcement in Magog on March 28, an email leaked to La Presse suggesting Hamm’s true desire was to join the CAQ. The plan, reportedly, was for Bélanger to step down, allowing Hamm to slide in as the replacement for the party in the Orford riding.
But Hamm doesn’t deny that she nearly joined the CAQ. She admitted to having an offer on the table. And while the assumption has been that she was courting the provincial government, she said it was really the other way around, and now they’re upset she chose the opposition.
“They decided to play a game where they would share some parts of the conversation, but of course not the other side of the conversation and we decided not to play that game because it would hurt a lot of people and I don’t want to play that game,” said Hamm.
She also spoke rather pointedly with Anglade about her future with the CAQ. According to Hamm, she told the QLP leader that it was basically a done deal, but that she had changed her mind and switched her allegiance to the liberal party. She said that Anglade was supportive.
Subscribe to The Record for the full story and more
