Rejected

The NDP's efforts at Quebec recruitment have paid off with the Outremont candidacy (and province-wide presence) of Thomas Mulcair. Meanwhile, the Gazette reports that the Cons' much-discussed attempt to find their own star candidate for Outremont in the person of Marcel Tremblay has met with complete failure:

Rumours of Marcel Tremblay's Conservative candidacy were greatly exaggerated.

Or so says Montreal city hall, which ended speculation yesterday about the possibility the city councillor and city executive committee member would run for the Tories in a federal by- election in Outremont riding.

A day after former Quebec environment minister Thomas Mulcair declared he will run in the riding for the New Democratic Party, city hall denied rumours that Tremblay had now decided to bow out of the race.

Tremblay, who is the brother of Mayor Gerald Tremblay, never dropped his hat into the ring in the first place, city hall spokesperson Darren Becker said. "He never was a candidate, and he is not a candidate," Becker said.

Mind you, the Cons will presumably take solace in their inroads into the retiring former paleo-Lib demographic. But when it comes to building any party momentum going into both the anticipated by-election and general elections beyond, all indications are that the Cons' fortunes are on the wane...while the NDP is positioned to make some significant progress.

(Edit: typo.)