A 19-year-old student to represent the Parti Québécois in Châteauguay

Marianne Lafleur will be running for the Parti Québécois (PQ) in Châteauguay in the October provincial elections. The 19-year-old student wants to improve seniors’ quality of life and to address the protection of both the environment and the French language.

Translation Hortense Ferron-Lefebvre

Ms. Lafleur, who is about to start her second year of a bachelor’s degree in journalism at the Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM), insists on the importance of youth and women’s involvement in politics.

“We know that this year, the 18- to 35-year-olds will make up a big part of the electorate and I think there is nothing better than a young person to represent young people,” she says. “The ideas I have are ageless. I think it takes a dynamic succession.”

A Saint-Jean-de-Richelieu resident, she professes a sense of belonging to Châteauguay because members of her family live there.

Ms. Lafleur wishes to “bring about a healthy cohabitation” between French and English speakers in the county. “The English language is not threatened in Canada, but the French language is,” she said. “It’s normal that we protect it, but it’s nothing against anglophones.”

On a national level, Ms. Lafleur intends to work on social justice, the housing crisis and Quebec independence.

The candidate is currently Haut-Richelieu’s youth territorial president for the PQ. She has been involved in the party for the past two years. She’s also vice-president of the Montérégie-Ouest’s Youth Forum for the Bloc Québécois.