© Dummondville.ca Alexandre Cusson

SHERBROOKE — Quebec’s Liberals will be getting the leadership race so many said was necessary to reboot the party.

Confirming weeks of rumours, Drummondville Mayor Alexandre Cusson Saturday announced he will be in the campaign and is ready to do battle with the lone other candidate, former cabinet minister Dominique Anglade.

“I think I have a surprise for you,” Cusson said with a chuckle, arriving at a Liberal general council meeting surrounded by a swarm of supporters. “I confirm with lots of enthusiasm that I will be candidate in the leadership race starting today.

“I am very happy to see the people who are with me, people from all generations of the Liberal Party of Quebec. What I want to do is have a debate of ideas, a discussion of what we want for Quebec, what we want for our party.”

The race is on. Drummondville mayor ⁦@CussonAlexandre⁩ mingles with ⁦@LiberalQuebec⁩ members after announcing he will run against ⁦@DomAnglade⁩ pic.twitter.com/D9O4ZXoU74 — Philip Authier (@PhilipAuthier) November 23, 2019

Cusson, 51, is the former president of the Union des municipalités , and is considered the candidate the Liberal establishment wants to see win the title.

He starts from behind. Anglade has been campaigning for months and has the support of 11 of the 27 members of the Liberal caucus.

Cusson so far has the support of two MNAs, Marwah Rizqy (Saint-Laurent) and Lise Thériault (Anjou-Louis-Riel).

But Cusson said he is not concerned because in the final crunch it will be the entire membership that votes. The party will officially announce the leadership race later Saturday.

In order to run, Cusson must raise $50,000 by February and sign up 750 individual Liberals in 12 different ridings.

Cusson has been mayor of Drummondville since 2013. He holds a masters in education and was formerly the director-general and teacher at Collège Saint-Bernard, a private school in Drummondville.

pauthier@postmedia.com

Twitter.com/philipauthier