The Quebec Minister of International Relations, Nadine Girault, is leaving politics after one term. Health problems are also pushing her to step down before the elections.
This was announced by the Coalition avenir Québec in two separate press releases on Tuesday afternoon.
“On the recommendation of her doctor”, Nadine Girault will temporarily pass the torch of International Relations to Minister Andrée Laforest. She will also not seek a second term in Bertrand’s riding in the general election this fall. “I am delighted to have spent these four years with you”, wrote the main interested party on Twitter.
The minister had cast doubt on her political future in recent months, without revealing anything. She no longer held the Immigration portfolio entrusted to her by Prime Minister François Legault from 2020 to 2021; Minister Jean Boulet took up his full-time position there last November.
Nadine Girault’s term at the CAQ was strewn with health problems. She was diagnosed with lung cancer in 2019, then last year she had to deal with back pain that sidelined her for several months. However, she retained the post of Minister of International Relations and La Francophonie which had been offered to her at the start of the CAQ mandate in 2018.
In 2020, she co-chaired, with Minister Lionel Carmant, the Action Group Against Racism, who made 25 recommendations in order to fight discrimination based on race.
Elected four years ago by more than 6,000 votes in advance in her riding of the Laurentians, Ms.me Girault had previously held several high-ranking positions in major Canadian banks, the Fonds de solidarité FTQ and the Service de police de la Ville de Montréal.
“Nadine is a passionate woman, ready to do anything for Quebec,” Prime Minister François Legault said in a public statement on Tuesday. “The economic shift she piloted in Quebec’s international delegations is a good example. »
So far, almost all of the CAQ deputies who announced that they would not run again in October are women. Among them, three ministers: Nadine Girault; the head of Elders, Marguerite Blais; and Higher Education Minister Danielle McCann.