Émilise Lessard-Therrien (born November 27, 1991) is a Québécoise politician, who was a co-spokesperson of

Québec solidaire Quebec is Canada's largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, New Brunswick to the southeast and a coastal border ...

from 2023 to 2024. She was elected to the

National Assembly of Quebec The National Assembly of Quebec (, ) is the Legislature, legislative body of the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec in Canada. Legislators are called MNAs (Members of the National Assembly; ). The lieutenant governor of Que ...

in the

2018 Quebec general election The 2018 Quebec general election was held on October 1, 2018, to elect members to the National Assembly of Quebec. The election saw a landslide victory for the Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ) led by François Legault, which won 74 of 125 seats, g ...

. She represented the electoral district of

Rouyn-Noranda–Témiscamingue Rouyn-Noranda–Témiscamingue is a provincial electoral district in the Abitibi-Témiscamingue region of Quebec, Canada, which elects members to the National Assembly of Quebec. It notably includes large portions of the city of Rouyn-Noranda ...

as a member of

until her defeat in the

2022 Quebec general election The 2022 Quebec general election was held on October 3, 2022, to elect the members of the National Assembly of Quebec. Under the province's Fixed election dates in Canada, fixed election date law, passed in 2013, "the general election following t ...

. In November 2023, Lessard-Therrien was elected co-spokesperson of

Québec Solidaire Quebec is Canada's largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, New Brunswick to the southeast and a coastal border ...

at the party congress in Gatineau, defeating

Ruba Ghazal Ruba Ghazal (born December 6, 1977) is a Canadian politician. A member of Québec solidaire, she was first elected to the National Assembly of Quebec in the 2018 provincial election, representing the district of Mercier. Since 2024, she is Qu ...

and Christine Labrie. She obtained 50.3% of the votes in the second round, against 49.7% for Ghazal. After taking leave for health reasons in late March 2024, she resigned as co-spokesperson on April 29 of the same year. She is a proponent of Quebec independence, regional decentralization and

food sovereignty Food sovereignty is a food system in which the people who produce, distribute, and consume food also control the mechanisms and policies of food production and Food distribution, distribution. This stands in contrast to the present corporate Agr ...

in Quebec. She is engaged in campaigns against arsenic pollution emitted by the copper factory Fonderie Horne in

Rouyn-Noranda Rouyn-Noranda (; Canada 2021 Census, 2021 population 42,313) is a city on Osisko Lake in the Abitibi-Témiscamingue region of Quebec, Canada. The city of Rouyn-Noranda is coextensive with a territory equivalent to a regional county municipalit ...

. In March 2019, Lessard-Therrien in an interview expressed concern over possible land grabs in the province by Chinese investors. She said that, with

climate change Present-day climate change includes both global warming—the ongoing increase in Global surface temperature, global average temperature—and its wider effects on Earth's climate system. Climate variability and change, Climate change in ...

, Quebec would be one of the few places left with good, arable land and fresh water in a few years’ time and that the Temiscamingue region had much unexploited land that was being scouted by Chinese investors. She also said "Between us, we call them predators," she said. "They are predators of agricultural land. And we see them, we feel them. And what I’m saying is that fallow land still has potential to be farmed again, but land that belongs to China may never feed Quebecers, and it’s important that we be concerned now." Responding to the criticism, she acknowledged that her statement was badly formulated, and that she was critical of large investors dominating agricultural lands, no matter where they are from.

Electoral record

References

Living people 1991 births People from Abitibi-Témiscamingue Québec solidaire MNAs Women MNAs in Quebec 21st-century members of the National Assembly of Quebec 21st-century Canadian women politicians Université du Québec en Abitibi-Témiscamingue alumni Université du Québec en Abitibi-Témiscamingue alumni Canadian farmers Canadian women farmers Québec solidaire spokespersons Quebec political party leaders Female Canadian political party leaders {{Quebec-MNA-stub