A real battle of environmentalists is taking shape in the riding of Taschereau, where the senior director of the organization Vivre en ville Jeanne Robin will wear the colors of the Parti Québécois.

Her candidacy was confirmed on Wednesday by former MP Agnès Maltais, who got personally involved to convince her to take the leap.

Alongside PQ leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon, the former regional minister argued that Ms. Robin belongs to this “new wave” of politicians that we have observed in particular on the municipal scene, for a few months.

Jeanne Robin, who immigrated from France about twenty years ago, pointed out that she has lived and worked in the riding for as many years.

Asked whether she had considered running with Québec solidaire, Ms. Robin justified her choice by saying that the Parti Québécois is the party that presented the “strongest environmental” electoral platform, which will still be the case this year, she said.

If we still ignore the candidacies of the Coalition avenir Québec and the Liberal Party of Quebec in Taschereau, the Conservative leader Éric Duhaime, who is calling for a third link, for his part announced the candidacy of the "environmentalist" Marie-Josée Helie, at the end of March.

Inauguration at QS

Following the announcement of the departure of MNA Catherine Dorion, the members of Québec solidaire will soon have to decide between the candidacy of Madeleine Cloutier, former running mate of the head of Transition Québec at city hall, Jackie Smith, and that of Étienne Grandmont, general manager and spokesperson for Accès transports viables, an organization close to Vivre en ville, whose offices are nearby.

“The climate emergency is really the subject on which we should be more focused. It is not a problem that there are many candidates who want to talk about these files. It’s a problem that there aren’t enough,” commented Ms. Robin.

“I hear it regularly, the people of Taschereau are thirsty for a member who takes care of them, who is from their riding, who is visible, who is present,” insisted Ms. Maltais.

Impartiality

In a press release, the organization Vivre en ville reacted to Ms. Robin's candidacy by stressing that its director general, Christian Savard, remains available to "comment on current affairs and this, in complete impartiality".

"Vivre en ville is a non-partisan organization, ready to collaborate with all decision-makers, regardless of their political background," said the chairman of the board of directors of Vivre en ville, Alexandre Turgeon, who is also involved in the Coalition No to the third link, in addition to being CEO of the Regional Council for the Environment (CRE) of the Capitale-Nationale, and which has often defended the tramway project.

The organization also mentions that Ms. Robin will continue to take on administrative duties until the end of June before taking time off until the end of the election campaign.