Agnès Maltais (born November 7, 1956) is a Canadian politician from

Quebec Quebec is Canada's List of Canadian provinces and territories by area, 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, ...

. She was a Member of 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 ...

for the riding of Taschereau in the

Quebec City Quebec City is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Quebec. As of July 2021, the city had a population of 549,459, and the Census Metropolitan Area (including surrounding communities) had a populati ...

region. She represented the

Parti Québécois The Parti Québécois (PQ; , ) is a sovereignist and social democratic provincial political party in Quebec, Canada. The PQ advocates national sovereignty for Quebec involving independence of the province of Quebec from Canada and establishi ...

. Maltais mostly worked in the theatrical sector being a development agent for Video-Femmes and the director of the Periscope and the la Bordée theaters. She was also a member of the Conseil québécois de théâtre. She was a political activist since 1976 when she obtained a diploma at the

Cégep de Sainte-Foy Cégep de Sainte-Foy is a French-language CEGEP in Quebec City, Quebec, Canada. It is located in the borough of Sainte-Foy–Sillery–Cap-Rouge. There are nearly 8,000 students registered at the college, making it one of the largest in the provi ...

. She was a spokesperson for the YES committee in the

1995 referendum The 1995 Quebec referendum was the second referendum to ask voters in the predominantly French-speaking Canadian province of Quebec whether Quebec should proclaim sovereignty and become an independent country, with the condition precedent of o ...

and was involved in the organization of the

Fête Nationale The fête nationale (English: '' National Day'' or ''National Celebration'') is a holiday in many places, frequently as a public holiday. It is a French language term for National Holiday, so is used in places that use French. It may refer to: * B ...

concerts and shows in 1991 and 1995. Maltais was first elected in Taschereau in

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for Lunar water, frozen water, in soil i ...

and became the Minister of Culture and Communications from 1998 to 2001. She was then named the Delegate Minister of Health, Social Services and Youth protection and Delegate Minister of Employment. Re-elected in

2003 2003 was designated by the United Nations as the International Year of Fresh water, Freshwater. In 2003, a Multi-National Force – Iraq, United States-led coalition 2003 invasion of Iraq, invaded Iraq, starting the Iraq War. Demographic ...

, she was the President of the Opposition Caucus. After 9 years in Opposition, the PQ formed a slim minority government after the 2012 election. Maltais immediately entered Cabinet as Minister of Labour, Employment, and Social Solidarity and Minister responsible for the status of women. In this portfolio, she presided over controversial changes to the social assistance system in Quebec, that put the PQ government in conflict with some anti-poverty groups. Maltais was also critical of changes to the EI system announced by the federal Conservative government in Ottawa. Long identified with the left-wing of the Parti Quebecois, Maltais has been elected 6 times in the inner-city riding of Taschereau in Quebec City. While the riding had been a safe seat for the PQ, it has become much more marginal in recent years as the PQ has become increasingly less and less competitive in the Capital Region. In

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

, Maltais only held onto the riding by 400 votes over her Liberal challenger and hers was the only PQ held seat in the region. She did not run for re-election in

2018 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency. * January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...

. In 2003, Ms. Maltais became the first openly

lesbian A lesbian is a homosexual woman or girl. The word is also used for women in relation to their sexual identity or sexual behavior, regardless of sexual orientation, or as an adjective to characterize or associate nouns with female homosexu ...

member of the National Assembly, when she

came out Coming out of the closet, often shortened to coming out, is a metaphor used to describe LGBTQ people's self-disclosure of their sexual orientation, romantic orientation, or gender identity. This is often framed and debated as a privacy issue, ...

to an audience at

Laval University Laval means ''The Valley'' in old French and is the name of: People * House of Laval, a French noble family originating from the town of Laval, Mayenne * Laval (surname) Places Belgium * Laval, a village in the municipality of Sainte-Ode, Luxe ...

. In 2006, she participated in the International Conference on LGBT Human Rights.

Electoral record

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Maltais, Agnes 1956 births Canadian LGBTQ people in provincial and territorial legislatures Women government ministers of Canada Canadian lesbian politicians Living people Members of the Executive Council of Quebec Parti Québécois MNAs Women MNAs in Quebec People from Côte-Nord Politicians from Quebec City 20th-century members of the National Assembly of Quebec 20th-century Canadian women politicians 20th-century Canadian LGBTQ people 21st-century members of the National Assembly of Quebec 21st-century Canadian women politicians 21st-century Canadian LGBTQ people