April 19, 2003 - The Chomedey News, Laval’s English community newspaper

PQ déjà-vu in Fabre

BY BARBARA LAVOIE

C’est du déjà-vu in Fabre, one of the four Parti Québécois riding strongholds in Laval, that fell to defeat last Monday night at the hands of the Liberal party that swept across the province for a majority win.

Since the riding first existed, it has voted for the party that forms the government – Liberal from its beginning in 1966, then in 1970 and in 1973, until former premier Bernard Landry convinced its citizens to give the PQ a try at representing their interests in the pivotal election of 1976 – the election that saw the party form its first government.

The PQ retained its hold on the riding in 1981, lost it back to the Liberals in 1985 and 1989, then took it again in 1994 and 1998. This week, Fabre returned to its Liberal roots.

The Fabre riding makes up the most westerly portion of the island of Laval. Residents are 82.8% francophone, 11% allophone and 6.2% Anglophone. In the 1995 referendum, residents voted 51.5% yes and 48.5% no.

This time out the race was between four candidates. Here’s how it played itself out - Michelle Courchesne, Liberal - 18,729 votes; Nathalie Saint-Pierre, PQ - 14,388; Claude Dugas, Action démocratique – 6,370; and, Pierre Bibeau, Independent – 408.

Voter turnout in the riding was 74.55% - out of a total of 53,509 eligible voters, 39,895 ballots were cast. The Liberals took 46.95% of the popular vote, PQ - 36.06%, ADM – 15.97%, Independent – 1.02%.

Although elections always result in winners and losers, under the circumstances, PQ candidate, Nathalie Saint-Pierre, 43, fought the good fight. Losing by only 4,341 votes to Liberal Michelle Courchesne reveals the fact that some citizens felt somewhat reluctant as they made their choice.

A resident of Montreal, this was her first run at provincial politics. Saint-Pierre stepped into the fray only days before the election was called after the party solicited her to fill the void following the announcement made February 4 that MNA Joseph Facal would not be running again.

In his two terms, Facal was first elected in 1994 and then again in 1998, he held various cabinet positions including: Canadian intergovernmental affairs, citizenship and immigration, chair of treasury board, and minister responsible for administration and public service.

Taking time for a brief interview just before the polls closed on Monday evening, Saint-Pierre was in fine form – confident and composed as she took time to discuss the campaign and share her sentiments. “I’m feeling quite positive,” she said.

She recounted with surprise some of the tactics her opponents had inflicted during the 33-day campaign. “I’ve been receiving many calls about this,” a one-page flyer with an English translation of her platform and her distorted photograph that was mailed to riding members from an unknown Saint-Laurent address, “…imagine the money wasted. Politics suck.” she said. “My signs were also covered over with the Liberal candidate’s signs. I found it depressing to think the Liberal Party would do such a thing.”

Making some sense of the riding’s historical swings over the years, Saint-Pierre described Fabre as a social microcosm of Quebec. “It’s one of those ridings that follows a bit what goes on generally, I guess because the population is a mirror of what is Quebec – francophones, anglophones, allophones, young families, elderly, and it’s got agriculture.”

What were the issues in Fabre? According to Saint-Pierre it wasn’t the sovereignty issue, although the fact that residents had in the 1995 referendum supported separatism was comforting. “Sovereignty? Not really. People were talking about it terms of they want this to happen…there were more urgent issues to discuss – we discussed a lot about health, and other issues, but generally, people were quite satisfied with the government, so we want to keep it that way.” She added, “That’s why I think the basis is there for us to keep this riding.”

She felt she had gained a good grasp of the local issues. Some residents wanted to discuss healthcare, others were interested in issues around the schools, daycare, adequate space for community organizations and access to water for the farming community.

“We had some very good discussions,” said Saint-Pierre. “We need change, but not change for change…we’ll see tonight. Why change, if it’s going well,” adding, “Unemployment is down.”

If elected, Saint-Pierre, the mother of three daughters, Emilie, 12, Catherine, 15, and Sarah, 17, had hoped, among other things, to create a mechanism, such as town hall meetings, for encouraging ongoing debate on all topics, but particularly the democratic institution. She wanted debate to happen often than just every time an election is called.

Why had she decided to run? Although public office had been on her mind for some time, she felt both the opportunity and the timing for her were right. “The PQ had proven to me that it was able to change by tackling fair trade, social corporate responsibility, globalization - things I’ve worked on for years – improving the rights of citizens, environmental and consumer protection. I really thought it was a good opportunity to do more from within. On the outside, people are always saying what we do wrong.”

She was also driven by fear generated early this year by the ADQ’s rise in popularity. “I thought they were going to be elected. That really worried me – we are going to ruin our society…I just thought I needed to be involved to try to change this.”

How did she feel about the experience? “It’s like trying to get a job and your asking 53,000 people to have an interview with them for 30 days.” She spoke warmly about the strong support she had from members of the riding association to her friends to her family. “I felt really privileged. I’ve met so many wonderful people – volunteers, voters, people in community organizations, farmers. I’ve discovered the place - the farmers, the city - the mix of everything. It’s great.”

Content that she and her team had checked with all the polling stations in the riding and that the vote coming out, she left with her family to wait it out.

By 10:20 p.m., the results were in. And, again with strong composure and poise, she addressed a collection of about 40 people made up of family, friends, media and party faithful. Judging from their response, many of those present have been through the scene before – you win some, you lose some – it’s old hat!

While Saint-Pierre plans to return to her job as director general of L’Union des consommateurs, a position she had held since 1995, the door seems to remain open for her in Fabre. “The people here are talking about having me stick around. We’ll see what we can work out.”

As for her political determination, when asked if she would be back in four years, she vowed, “Absolutely!”