By Ruby Pratka
Local Journalism Initiative
The race is on to replace former Liberal Cabinet minister Pascale St-Onge in Brome-Missisquoi. As of early last week, all five federal parties with parliamentary representation have presented their candidates in the riding; St-Onge announced in February that she did not plan to run again.
In alphabetical order, the candidates are actor Jeff Boudreault for the Bloc Québécois, Magog-based artist and former journalist Joanne Brouard for the New Democratic Party (NDP), former Montreal Alouette and director general of the Fondation pour les sports adaptés Steve Charbonneau for the Conservatives, environmentalist and vice-president of the Ordre québécois des acupuncturistes Michelle Corcos for the Green Party and Bromont Mayor Louis Villeneuve for the Liberals. Entrepreneur Jack McLeod will run for the People’s Party of Canada (PPC). As of March 31, no independent or smaller-party candidates have registered in the riding with Elections Canada.
Since its creation in 1984, the riding has gone to the Conservatives from 1984-1993, the Bloc Québécois from 1993-1994, the Liberals from 1995-2006, the Bloc again from 2006-2011 and the NDP after the 2011 “Orange Wave.” Since 2015, it has been represented by three different Liberal MPs. Although polls late last year suggested the Bloc would reclaim the seat, poll aggregator 338Canada now rates it as a safe Liberal seat, with the Liberals polling at an average of 42 per cent compared to 25 per cent for the Bloc, 22 per cent for the Conservatives and 3 per cent each for the NDP and the Green Party (data for the PPC was not provided).
Boudreault, who has lived in Bromont for the past ten years, became a household name in much of the province when he played journalist Jean Brière on the popular Radio-Canada police drama District 31; he has also worked in special education and managed a microbrewery. He said he was inspired to run by current Bloc MP for Lac-Saint-Jean Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe, a former colleague, and by a former MP who helped him navigate the process of bringing his Haitian-born adopted child to Canada after the 2010 earthquake in Haiti. “I want to be that kind of MP.”
“There are a lot of issues in the riding – housing is very important, border security, water quality in Lake Champlain and Lake Memphremagog, supply management, the concerns of hunters around gun control, making sure seniors have enough money to end their days in peace,” he said.
He accused Liberal Leader Mark Carney and Ontario premier and Conservative standard bearer Doug Ford of being too focused on the auto and financial sectors, at the expense of Quebec priorities like aluminum, wood and water resources. “We know the Bloc Québécois are never going to form the government, but [electing Bloc MPs] is an insurance policy for Quebecers. We’re the guard dogs of Quebec’s interests.” Although he is not bilingual and has few connections with the English-speaking community, he said he’s open to meeting with anglophones. “Whether you’re anglophone or francophone, you’re a Quebecer, at the root of things.”
Brouard grew up in a “huge family of farmers” with roots in the Beauce region and previously ran unsuccessfully in a Montreal riding in 2011. In an English-language interview, she cited border security and water quality in lakes Champlain and Memphremagog as the main issues facing the riding.
Undiscouraged by the NDP’s faltering poll numbers, she encouraged voters to choose the NDP as a rebuke to the two-party system. “Both the Liberals and Conservatives have huge blind spots,” she argued. “Both say they want to safeguard the economy, but when they say ‘the economy,’ they mean large corporations. I’m not against corporations – they do provide jobs – but if you focus only on corporations, there’s an imbalance, and that’s what we’re seeing in the U.S. We’re the party making sure that not only the corporations, but also the people who are working and buying the products are taken care of.”
Conservative candidate Charbonneau is a lifelong West Bolton resident who played CFL football in Montreal and Edmonton before becoming involved in the field of adaptive sports. In an upbeat English-language interview, he said he decided to go into politics to help people.
“People are worried about high taxes, inflation and tariffs. We have a lot of farmers, and farmers are worried about keeping supply management, which is a very sensitive issue,” he said.
Charbonneau said he believed a Conservative government was best placed to stand up to the Trump administration and put more money in consumers’ pockets. “We [Conservatives] have always been an ally to farmers and workers. We need to reduce the size of the government and have better financial management, and the Conservatives have always proven that they are better at financial management.”
“I learned English at university in New Hampshire, where I went to play football,” he added. “I’m not a lifelong politician, and [going into politics] is a little scary, but it’s like going to the States to play football – you have to trust life. It’s too easy just to sit at home and complain.”
Green Party candidate Corcos, whose party has yet to elect an MP in Quebec, said in a statement on the party website that she “will work to strengthen access to sustainable and preventive healthcare, support ambitious climate policies and promote transparent and participatory governance.” She said she also hoped to “advance concrete solutions to improve public transportation in rural areas, reducing dependence on single-occupancy vehicles and providing viable mobility alternatives” and support the growth of green jobs.
McLeod, the PPC candidate, is described on the party website as “an experienced programmer and business owner with a deep passion for technology” who is “committed to applying his analytical and problem-solving skills to politics,” emphasizing efficiency and transparency. “His background in IT and strategic thinking gives him a unique approach to tackling challenges in governance,” the website said.
Liberal candidate Villeneuve, who has taken unpaid leave from his job as mayor of Bromont to campaign, said he believed the Liberals represented steady leadership amid unprecedented threats to Canadian sovereignty from the Trump administration. “We’re facing something we’ve never seen before. We have an expansionist president on our southern border who wants to strangle us economically and make us the 51st state. It’s time to unite [Canadians], not divide them. I think the only one who can do that job, who can protect our economy and sovereignty, is Mr. Carney. That’s why I decided to jump in.”
In addition to Canada-U.S. relations, Villeneuve cited the fight against invasive species and fertilizer runoff in Lakes Memphremagog and Champlain, supply management in the dairy sector and a potential passenger train link between Lac-Mégantic and Montreal as major issues facing the riding. He also hopes to put his municipal politics experience to use addressing issues such as affordable housing and transit, for which different levels of government are responsible for different aspects.
“To be mayor in a city where every [council member] is independent, where you don’t have [municipal] parties, you need to use teamwork,” he said. “I’m a team player. I think I can be a person who brings people together,” he added.