Dominique Anglade became Monday the first black woman to lead a provincial political party in Quebec after her only opponent in the Liberal leadership race dropped out.
Anglade, a prominent cabinet minister in premier Philippe Couillard’s one-term government, is also the first woman to lead the Quebec Liberals in the party’s 151-year history.
Her lone rival to replace to Couillard, former Drummondville mayor Alexandre Cusson, withdrew his candidacy earlier on Monday, citing the uncertainty caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Considering the current evolution of the pandemic in Quebec, the impact it has on the lives of the population and on the possible resumption of the leadership race, it seems unrealistic and irresponsible to me to picture a resumption of this race in the coming weeks, or even before 2021,” Cusson wrote on Facebook.