Who’s Who in Richmondarthabaska
The Richmond-arthabaska riding includes the municipalities of Saint-denis-de-brompton, Saint-françoisxavier-de-brompton, Melbourne, Kingsbury, Richmond, Cleveland, Ulverton, Windsor, Vol-joli, Saint-claude, Danville, Asbestos, Saint-georges-de-windsor, Saint-camille, Wotton, Kingsey Falls, Sainte-séraphine, Sainte-clothilde-de Horton, Saint-samuel, Saint-albert, Sainte-élizabeth-de-warwick, Warwick, Tingwick, Saint-rémi-de-tingwick, Saint-adrien, Saintjoseph-de-ham-sud, Saints-martyr-canadiens, Ham-nord, Notre-dame-de-ham, Chesterville, Sainte-hélène-de-chester, Saint-christophe-d’arthabaska, Saint-norbert-d’arthabaska, Victoriaville, Saint-valère, Saint-rosaire, Sainte-anne-du-sault, Daveluyville, Maddington, and Saint-louis-de-blandford. Since its creation in 1997 the riding has had three Members of Parliament. Progressive-conservative turned independent André Bachand, who is now a member of the province’s National Assembly for the corresponding provincial electoral district, represented the region in Ottawa from 1997 to 2004. André Bellavance, now the Mayor of Victoriaville, represented the Bloc Quebecois in the riding from 2004 to 2014, when he left the party and sat out the rest of his term as an independent. Alain Reyes, former Mayor of Victoriaville, has been the Conservative MP for the region since 2015. In this election there are candidates running for the Conservatives, Liberals, Greens, Bloc Quebecois, People’s Party, and the NDP.
Incumbent Alain Reyes is leaning on his experience in office as well as his community involvement as the main argument in favour of his re-election.
“Over the last two years my role of political lieutenant has given me a lot of experience and has increased my network of contacts across Quebec and Canada,” he said. “I feel that means I can bring even more to my region.”
Rather than talk about local issues as if they applied uniformly across the riding, the conservative candidate pointed out that different communities have their own priorities, which range from the need to overhaul the drinking water reservoir in Victoriaville to investing in natural gas hookup in Richmond’s industrial park, companies like Alliance Magnesium that are working with the mine tailings in Asbestos, and the development of Mont-ham park. He did, however, point to internet access, protection of the agricultural sector, and the workforce shortage as major issues with a broader relevance. Asked if there was one he would prioritize, Reyes argued that they are all important and that it is possible to work on more than one file at a time.
The conservative said that he is not concerned about the presence of the People’s Party of Canada in the political sphere, calling Maxime Bernier “radicalized” and arguing that his positions don’t connect with the general population
Marc Patry is running for the Liberal party because of a desire for balance. An engineer turned entrepreneur with strong family roots in the region; he said that although there is a tendency to imagine members of the business community as conservative supporters, his mix of centrist politics and progressive values makes the Liberals a natural choice.
Asked about the key issues in the region, Patry put the environment at the forefront, calling humanity’s role in climate change undeniable.
“It’s very clear to me that human beings are creating climate change right now,” he said, arguing that the work being done right now in the Victoriaville region on sustainability could serve as a model for other parts of the country.
He shared a similar perspective with regard to what he called “social entrepreneurship,” indicating that the region has a very particular tendency to foster grassroots projects that work for larger social benefit. If elected, he said he would like to see these initiatives given more funding and government support.
He also expressed an interest in working to help small and medium sized businesses, and to provide better recognition and support for “the sandwich generation,” who find themselves caring for a young family at the same time they also look after aging parents.
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Patry was not ignorant to the fact that that there has been no Liberal representative elected in the region in 30 years, but said that he is doing his best to be present and persuasive.
Jean Landry is a former Bloc Quebecois MP for the defunct riding of Lotbinière-l'érable, but this time around he is running for the People’ Party of Canada. He told The Record that he is “tired of being lied to” by political parties and feels that the PPC is bringing “new ideas and a new way of doing things” to the Canadian political sphere.
Landry put a strong focus on his party’s call for reduced and more focused immigration, arguing that the country needs to crack down on asylum seekers in favour of more economic immigration.
He said he was ready to work with “good ideas” from all parties in the context of a minority government, adding that he feels governments should be more cooperative than competitive in general.
Like his Conservative counterpart, the PPC candidate said he is not concerned about vote splitting on the right side of the political spectrum, although for different reasons.
“People today are very well informed,” Landry said, suggesting that it is easier now than ever before for people in the general population to break down lies
Laura Horth-lepage said that she chose to run for the Green Party because they were the only party that built the recommendations of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change into its platform. A Project Manager at Excellence Composites in Victoriaville with a focus on reducing the business’s plastic waste, Horth-lepage’s background is in civil engineering and environmental science, and her main concerns for the region and the country revolve around how the next government will address climate change.
Recognizing the riding’s strong agricultural community, the candidate said that she wants to work with local farmers and the organic farming program at the Cegep in Victoriaville on a plan to transition agriculture to a more sustainable, lower-impact industry with a focus on feeding the population while also having a lower impact on the environment. At the same time she argued in favour of supporting the supply management system and providing financial incentives to support the agricultural industry in a difficult time of transition.
Ultimately, Horth-lepage said that the Green Party wants to see the government response to what she referred to as “the climate crisis” move from being a debated issue into the hands of a multiparty action committee that could continue to work on pressing issues regardless of who is in power at any given time.
“We all agree that (climate change) exists,” she said, “Everyone has to get on board.”
Olivier Nolin feels that the Bloc Quebecois is the party that most aligns with the priorities of the riding. Looking back on the voting history in the region he argued that people have voted Conservative not because they agreed with the party but because the local candidates had popularity outside of the election campaign from past experiences. Drawing on that belief, the candidate is taking a second try at running for the Bloc in the region after having finished fourth in the 2015 race.
Nolin pointed to cell phone service and the defence of supply management as two key issues in the very rural region, although he also made mention of Victoriaville’s water supply.
The Bloc candidate suggested that a vote for his party represents an opportunity to make one’s voice heard in a different way. With the focus of the party being on representing its interests directly rather than seeking to lead the country, he claimed that the Bloc Quebecois gives Quebecers the balance of power in the political sphere in the case of a minority government which, he pointed out, seems increasingly likely in the current campaign.
The NDP candidate for the riding, Olivier Guérin, did not respond to any attempt on the part of the Record to get in touch other than a request not to be reached through his personal Facebook account. This includes a message to the email address specifically mentioned in that request. The Record could find no evidence that Guérin, who is the political attaché for Beloeil-chambly NDP candidate Matthew Dubé, has even set foot in the riding, let alone actively campaigned.