NDPQ candidates set out on campaign trail

Every election campaign has its front-runners.

So far, the polling numbers for the Oct. 1 Quebec election indicate that the Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ) is topping the list, with the Quebec Liberals sitting in near second and the Parti Québecois struggling in a distant third.

In the West Island, the Quebec Liberals have dominated at the polls for decades. So much so, that it is understandable that some West Island voters may not be aware that there are smaller parties with candidates on the campaign trail. Running in its first provincial election is the New Democratic Party of Quebec. The NDPQ was registered in 2014 and is not affiliated with the federal party. A previous incarnation which functioned as a provincial wing of the federal party existed from 1963 to 1991. Here are the West Island NDPQ candidates:

JACQUES-CARTIER CANDIDATE

France Séguin grew up in PointeClaire. She has travelled the world and holds a master’s degree in International Development from the University of Ottawa. Séguin applied her socio-economic expertise during 25 years spent in Africa and South America. She returned to Pointe-Claire in 2013 and joined the federal NDP, working on the 2015 federal election and promoting proportional representation with the Mouvement Démocratie Nouvelle (MDN). She is a founding member of NDPQ.

In her campaign statement, Séguin stated her running for the NDPQ is a logical next move in her quest to best represent the needs of her riding and to find progressive solutions to social problems. She describes herself as “a committed social-democrat with clear and unequivocal leftist political orientations (and as) a determined, dynamic and pragmatic woman.”

NELLIGAN CANDIDATE

Leslie Eric Murphy is a software developer in the health-care industry. He is now a resident of Pierrefonds, but was living in SteGeneviève when the historic floods hit the region in 2017. His rented home flooded and he was forced to relocate.

With the campaign underway, Murphy has been going door to door and listening to frustrated flood victims who found the government aid-application process impossible to navigate.

“During the flooding, the government press conferences did not reflect what was happening on the ground,” Murphy said.

He said people are asking about what happens if the flooding occurs again.

“In this era of climate change, we experience rain on snow. The water accumulation is huge,” Murphy said. “This needs to be reflected in (government preparations).”

Recent interruption of service and reduced service on the DeuxMontagnes commuter line caused by the construction of the REM (light-rail) network is also a hot topic in the riding Murphy said.

And he said people are not happy with the budget cuts experienced at the Medistat Clinic in Pierrefonds. “The clinic has been told to send patients to a super clinic. But then the super clinic is full,” Murphy said.

ROBERT-BALDWIN CANDIDATE

Luca Brown lives in Pierrefonds and is a political science student at McGill University. During the summer, fellow NDPQ candidate Séguin saw him give a presentation on food security during an event organized by the social-outreach organization Table de quartier sud de l’Ouest-de-l’Île. Following the presentation, she asked him to run for the party.

“I had already been involved with the federal NDP, so the offer seemed like a natural extension of my interest in politics and in social justice,” Brown said.

MARQUETTE CANDIDATE

John Symon lives in Lachine and works as a translator and author. He is a community activist and environmentalist who opposes the REM, saying it is a prohibitively expensive project that will not serve the residential areas in either Lachine or Dorval. He said the arrival of the REM will signal the demise of the commuter lines that serve residents below Highway 20.