Québec Solidaire will seek a breakthrough with Laurentians by opposing Secretary Nadine Girault and Fairtrade Canada Director-General Julie Francoeur.
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It was the lack of childcare places that prompted the 37-year-old to take the plunge into politics. As a mother of two, she was unable to get a place in the CPE for her two-year-old son. “Some things don’t seem to change in Quebec,” laments the woman, who joined the Ma place au travail movement.
“We pay a certain tax to use these services. So I grew up thinking that the day I needed it as a professional or for my family I would have it. So it was really a shock, a big surprise. I thought it was natural in our society to have access to it,” she says.
50 minutes drive
About 25 minutes’ drive away, a distance that involves commuting mornings and evenings, the couple eventually found an unsubsidized daycare. “We had to make compromises on distance and cost, but there are people on my team who just can’t find one,” adds Julie Francoeur.
In April, the CAQ government passed a law to accelerate the development of the network of child care services. But so far the family minister has not achieved his own goals of adding places in CPE.
For its part, QS is proposing to create an emergency allowance of US$870 per month for the parents of an unplaced child under 18 months who is no longer receiving QPIP benefits.
Get out of the cities
The director general of Fairtrade Canada (an NPO that ensures the traceability of fair trade products) will therefore have the difficult task of beating the Secretary of International Relations, Nadine Girault. In 2018, the Caquist won easily with 41.5% of the votes against 23.4% for the PQ and 18% for QS.
But Solidarity argues the sovereign formation has since lost its feathers in national polls, giving it hope of being competitive this time around.
Located in the Laurentians, Bertrand’s electoral department includes the localities of Chertsey, Estérel, Rawdon, Sainte-Adèle, Sainte-Agathe-des-Monts, Val-David and Saint-Donat, among others.
Although the region is known for its recreational areas, the population has a lower income than the Quebec average. In fact, there are big differences in the constituency.
Its voters are also older (with an average age of 53 compared to 43 elsewhere in Quebec) and are 98.5% Caucasian according to the latest census.
A victory in Bertrand would mean a breakthrough for Québec Solidaire, which has so far chosen its 10 lawmakers in urban areas or near university campuses.
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