Ruba Ghazal enters the race for the position of co-spokesperson for Québec solidaire

Photo: Marie-France Coallier Le Devoir Ruba Ghazal announced her candidacy on Wednesday at La Fontaine Park in Montreal, surrounded by activists.

Alex Fontaine

Published at 11:17 a.m.

• Quebec

Ruba Ghazal is entering the race for the position of female co-spokesperson for Québec solidaire (QS). The member for Mercier made the announcement surrounded by activists on Wednesday at La Fontaine Park in Montreal.

With her candidacy, she wishes to embody “the unity of party and love of Quebec” and be “a cohesive force for Québec solidaire”. “I want […] Catherine Dorions and Émilise Lessard-Therriens to be able to find their place in our party, as much as Christine Labrie and Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois,” said Ms. Ghazal.

“I think we managed to weather the storm and that we will emerge stronger,” she assures, referring to the crisis following the departure of Émilise Lessard-Therrien, who left her functions last April after five months in office, deploring “an organizational blockage” within the party. This was followed by a call for “pragmatism” from Gouin’s male co-spokesperson and MP, Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois, who wants to make QS a “government party”.

< p> “I have been working with Gabriel since 2018, we learned to work together [and] we end up sharing the same vision”, that of “social justice” and a “resolutely feminist” party, affirms Ruba Ghazal. “I like to say we’re pragmatic idealists,” she says. She describes the very founding of Québec solidaire as a pragmatic gesture, since it involved bringing the voice of social movements into an official forum, that of the National Assembly.

Regions and independence as a priority

If she is elected female spokesperson, Québec solidaire will be led by two Montreal MPs. This would not be a handicap, according to Ms. Ghazal, who recalls that with her “regional caucus”, the interests of each are represented by a united deputy. The spokesperson's place of residence should not distract attention from the party's actions, in her opinion. She also emphasizes that in the Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ), “there are almost no deputies in Montreal, even though they all live here.”

Meeting in Saguenay at the end of May, the party adopted the “Saguenay Declaration”, which concerns agriculture, and a project to “modernize” its program. “During the national council in Jonquière, a few weeks ago, we found rights of way, all members together “, in order to get closer to rural issues, among other things, says Ms. Ghazal.

While a Parti Québécois (PQ) that puts independence at the forefront is leading the polls, Ms. Ghazal believes that “there is room in Quebec for several visions of the independence project.” She is currently leading the New Quebec initiative, a campaign that aims to convince young people to support the sovereignist option.

Ruba Ghazal, who is a founding member of Québec solidaire, tried to be elected as co-spokesperson alongside Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois in November 2023. She was narrowly beaten in the ballot by Émilise Lessard-Therrien , who won in the second round of voting. Solidarity activists will choose Ms. Lessard-Therrien’s official successor in November. In the meantime, the member for Sherbrooke, Christine Labrie, assumes the interim role.

According to a survey by Pallas Data, published Wednesday in L 'News and conducted on June 8 among a random sample of 1,339 Quebecers, QS would obtain the favor of 16% of voters, after the distribution of the undecided. The PQ recorded 33% of voting intentions among respondents, the CAQ, 21.5%, and the Liberal Party of Quebec, 17%. The margin of error is 2.7%.