The youngest member of the National Assembly, the PQ Méganne Perry Mélançon, will try to obtain a second term in the fall elections. The elected representative of Gaspé is the second representative of the Parti Québécois to confirm her participation in the upcoming campaign, while several tenors of the party have recently announced their withdrawal from political life.
Posted at 2:17 p.m.
“I still have the flame and there are too many files to settle to retire at 31,” said the MP after listing the files affected during her term. “I will try to obtain the majority of votes in the riding of Gaspé in the next election,” she confirmed.
In 2018, the elected official won the race in Gaspé by 41 votes ahead of the candidate of the Liberal Party of Quebec, following a judicial recount.
The announcement of Méganne Perry Mélançon is timely, as the Parti Québécois tries to infuse a positive message in order to win the by-election in Marie-Victorin, a PQ stronghold. ” The countryside [dans Marie-Victorin] is an important blow to score,” agrees the elected official from Gaspé. “We have to send an important signal to the government. “.
In recent weeks, several tenors of the independence party have announced their withdrawal from political life, in particular Sylvain Gaudreault and Lorraine Richard.
The MP for Matane-Matapédia, Pascal Bérubé, for his part announced on a few platforms his intention to run again.
The lack of childcare places and oil exploitation were the two most significant issues of the elected official’s first term, she reports. “I was the first elected official to position myself clearly against [le forage sur le site] galt. All the others were sneaking around the question, ”says Méganne Perry Mélançon with satisfaction. “I have also been confirmed that my interventions with the Minister of Families and our mobilization have made it possible to free up daycare places for our region,” she says.
Over the course of her mandate, but also over the departures of the PQ caucus, the Gaspésienne found herself carrying a dozen files. In particular, she wears the hats of PQ spokesperson for municipal affairs, agriculture and food, economy and recovery, higher education, status of women, housing, regional development and rurality, youth, the fight against racism, sports, recreation and healthy lifestyles, and tourism.
Before officially being the Parti Québécois candidate in Gaspé for the fall 2022 election, the outgoing elected will have to win the local nomination, a formality.
On many occasions, Méganne Perry Mélançon has attacked the record of the Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ) government, a “suburb-centric government that does not concern itself with the regions”. “Air transport: total failure. Rail transport: total failure”, judges the MP, who promises to have “a lot to say about the failures of the CAQ” during the campaign.
“What have you done for the regions? “, she asks Prime Minister François Legault. “You are slipping away,” replies the MP. The latter denounces that the only regional promise on which the government has acted is that of the regionalization of civil servants. “And a lot of elected municipal officials came out against their plan,” she adds.
Over the past four years, Méganne Perry Mélançon has been noticed by her peers. In 2018, she was named Revelation of the Year by her peers in the Parliamentary Awards, organized by The Press. Twice, the youngest elected member of the National Assembly has been named Rising Star in the same list.