Solidarity MNA Catherine Dorion will leave politics in the fall to focus on her artistic career, without ceasing to campaign for the social causes that are close to her heart.
It was at the end of a “love letter to the people of Taschereau” of more than 10 minutes published Friday evening on her Facebook page that the united MP for this riding in the Quebec region confirmed that she would not run again. not in the next provincial election. Mme Dorion was elected in Taschereau in 2018 and currently holds several roles within Québec solidaire, including that of the party’s spokesperson for culture and communications as well as for transportation.
“Thank you for the energy of the fight. I will never forget that,” said M.me Dorion, moved, while Sol Zanetti, at her side, chained guitar chords. The elected official – who is also an actress and a poet – then returned to the mobilization in which she took part “for a fast and efficient tramway in Quebec City” and to the controversy she sparked when she walked nose to the dress code of the National Assembly. She then confirmed, with tears in her eyes, that she would not seek re-election as an MP on October 3, after four years in the National Assembly.
“We have won things in Quebec through all the turmoil of the past few years, and we must not let go. And not just in the National Assembly, but in the streets too. And that’s what I want to do now. I want to be an activist in the field, in theaters and in bars, in books and through people, and I want to put all my time into it,” said Ms.me Dorion, whose opposition to the third link between Quebec and Lévis has also caused a stir in recent years.
“That means that I will not be a candidate for Québec solidaire in the elections this fall,” added the elected official, who believes that, “if the field of institutional politics clearly needs battlers and battlers, the field of the art needs it just as much”. Because “without artists and without poets, there is no possible emancipation movement,” added the MP.
The elected representative, who looks at her legacy of the past four years “with pride”, now urges her voters to make the leap into politics to advance progressive causes. “That’s exactly what it takes us in politics, big mouths who love freedom and who are not afraid” to express their opinions, she launched.
“An extraordinary mission”
The two co-spokespersons for Québec solidaire joined their voices to many Internet users who praised the work done by Mr.me Dorion in recent years.
“The path to social and climate justice is a long road where all avenues must be occupied if we want to think we can get there, together. Thank you, Catherine, for being by our side for the past 4 years. Democracy comes out the winner,” wrote Manon Massé.
Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois, for his part, hailed “the extraordinary mission” that Ms.me Dorion since 2018 by succeeding in “combining her work as an MP with her artistic and social commitment”.