Gilles Taillon enters ADQ leadership race

Gilles Taillon, Mario Dumont's former second-in-command with the Action Démocratique du Québec, is seeking the party leadership.

Taillon made the announcement in Quebec City Monday, becoming the third candidate in the race to succeed Dumont, who resigned in March after more than 14 years as ADQ leader.

Taillon, 63, says his wife persuaded him to enter the leadership race, even though he was defeated in last December's provincial election in the riding of Chapleau in western Quebec.

Taillon is a former head of the province's main employers' lobby group and became ADQ finance critic after the 2007 election.

The right-wing party will choose its leader in February 2010.

The two other declared candidates are Éric Caire, a member of the national assembly, and former member Christian Lévesque.