By Ruby Pratka
Local Journalism Initiative
With the deadline to name candidates only hours away as this edition of The Record went to press, the electoral picture is becoming clear in Sherbrooke. Liberal incumbent Élisabeth Brière, minister of national revenue and veterans’ affairs, is running for a third term. In addition to Brière, in alphabetical order, the candidates are engineer Jean-Pierre Fortier for the New Democratic Party (NDP), Alexandre Lépine for the People’s Party of Canada (PPC), former Champlain College art professor Kevin McKenna for the Green Party, Esteban Méndez-Hord for the Conservative Party and actor Pierre-Étienne Rouillard for the Bloc Québécois.
The downtown riding was reliably Liberal from its creation in 1925 – with the exception of a Conservative-Social Credit blip in the 1960s– until future Quebec premier Jean Charest won it for the Mulroney Conservatives in 1984. The Bloc Québécois held the seat from 1998-2011, when Pierre-Luc Dusseault of the NDP captured it in the “Orange Wave;” Brière narrowly won it back for the Liberals in 2019. Although polls showed the Bloc was likely to win the seat as recently as early February, 338Canada now rates it as a safe Liberal seat, with polls indicating the Liberals have 53 per cent support compared to 19 per cent for the Bloc, 17 per cent for the Conservatives and six per cent for the NDP.
Brière said she believed the key issue in this election was Canada-U.S. relations. “We’re hearing a lot about that – businesspeople are worried about the threat of the tariffs, which are creating chaos. [Liberal Leader] Mark Carney is an economist who worked on two economic crises. As governor of the Bank of England after Brexit, he was there to respond well to a complex situation. At this time, he’s the best person to lead the country.”
She said the other major issues for the region were housing and affordability, and praised the Liberals’ national housing strategy and the Carney government’s plan to build 500,000 homes across the country. “We’re taking care of so many other issues when we take care of housing – when you have a roof over your head, that means security and safety.”
Brière, who spoke with The Record in English, said she had a good working relationship with the English-speaking community, including Bishop’s University, Townshippers’ and the Quebec Anglophone Heritage Network. “When Bishop’s was in difficulty, we were able to get federal funding for them, for a new library and greenhouses.”
Carney has said his government would intervene in an eventual Supreme Court challenge to Bill 96, the CAQ government’s controversial language legislation, but defended the law when the Trump administration described it as a trade barrier. “It’s a complex situation,” Brière acknowledged. “We’re the party of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms and official bilingualism … We support the goals of the law but oppose the use of the notwithstanding clause.”
NDP candidate Fortier said that amid the rise of disinformation and online hate, the climate crisis and the rising cost of living, he felt that he “had to do something more, just to be able to sleep at night.”
“Grocery prices are still going up, and with a full-time job, you should be able to buy groceries, pay rent, save and still have some money left over – that isn’t happening, and people are losing hope, which is something I want to address.” He said the housing crisis, climate anxiety, improving access to public health care and standing up to the Trump administration on trade were key issues. He also said a strong NDP caucus was necessary to defend the federal dental care and pharmacare programs. “Whether we have a Conservative or Liberal government, they will cut, and the Bloc is just there to block progress – we’re the only party with a progressive vision of the future,” he argued.
Fortier, who took leave from his job as head of the water management division of the Ville de Sherbrooke to campaign, described himself as a hardworking and responsible leader who understood infrastructure and emergency response. He described his English ability as “average,” but said he built some connections with the English-speaking community working on projects in Lennoxville.
Lépine is described on the PPC website as a community-minded candidate who “stands for the core values of freedom, personal responsibility, respect, and fairness” and believes Canada “can restore its prosperity and empower the people through bold convictions.”
Green Party candidate McKenna, who did not respond to a request for comment before press time, is described on the party website as an artist, freelance translator, graphic designer, ultralight aircraft instructor, contributor to several community publications and singer-songwriter who “wants to put his experience, creativity and deep local roots to work in support of ecological transition, social justice, and democratic renewal.”
Conservative candidate Méndez-Hord did not respond to interview requests, and his page on the Conservative Party website lacks a bio. His online presence amounts to a personal Facebook page sharing content by Poilievre and other Conservative candidates.
Bloc candidate, actor and novice politician Rouillard said he “wasn’t scared” by the political arena. “It takes all kinds of people to represent society in Parliament – lawyers, journalists, workers and artists,” he said. “It’s important to be a good listener, to be available and to understand the issues.”
Cross-border trade is top of mind for Rouillard, as it is for several of his fellow candidates. “The tariffs are already touching the region. The Bloc proposes to modify certain measures to speed up the processing of unemployment insurance applications. When you lose your job, it’s very scary, and the Bloc understands that fear,” he said. He also said the Bloc plans to demand that a Quebec delegation be present on all Canadian trade missions, to defend “aluminium, fisheries, our water resources, critical minerals and all the things that make us proud to be Quebecers.”
Easing access to property for young people is another concern on Roullard’s agenda; he said the Bloc planned to push for policies to help first-time homebuyers with their down payments and abolish the GST on service fees associated with buying a house.
Rouillard said he isn’t bilingual but is eager to make connections with the English-speaking community. “I know certain anglophones can be scared of sovereignty, but we are proposing to protect the territory that we all live in,” he said. “We are the best placed to defend the interests of Quebec.”