Three in running for Québec solidaire male spokesperson

Former student protest leader Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois is among three candidates vying to become the next male spokesperson of Québec solidaire.

Members of the left-of-centre provincial party will elect new spokespeople on May 21, succeeding party president Andrés Fontecilla and former MNA Françoise David, who both stepped down.

MNA Manon Massé, who is interim female spokesperson, is the only candidate for the permanent position.

Unlike other political parties, Québec solidaire is represented by male and female spokespeople and doesn’t elect a leader. (Previously, the rules said the spokespeople should be one who is an MNA and one who isn’t.)

Nadeau-Dubois, who led the student protests against university tuition fee hikes in the province in 2012, is also running in a byelection to gain a seat in the National Assembly in the Montreal riding of Gouin.

The other candidates seeking to become male spokesperson, Sylvain Lafrenière and Jean-François Lessard, are not MNAs.

Nadeau-Dubois is the best known of the three candidates, in part because of media coverage as he campaigns in the Gouin byelection.

“I’m convinced that at this moment, there are still members of Québec solidaire that don’t even know I exist,” Lessard said in an interview.

Lessard said he’s strongly in favour of an alliance with the Parti Québécois to defeat the Liberal government in the next general election.

Lafrenière, meanwhile, is against it.

“It’s not just an element of strategy when they say it could burn bridges we’ve developed with racialized people and anglophones,” he said.

Nadeau-Dubois’s position is more nuanced, saying he’s open to talks.