Ruba Ghazal will officially become Québec solidaire co-spokesperson

Québec solidaire (QS) will officially designate Ruba Ghazal as the party’s female co-spokesperson virtually at a special convention this weekend.

The Mercier MNA is the only candidate to succeed Émilise Lessard-Therrien, who resigned last spring, citing conflicts with the male co-spokesperson, Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois.

Ghazal, who describes herself as a child of Bill 101, will be appointed at the end of the day on Saturday.

She’s taking on this new role as Nadeau-Dubois will temporarily take a a three-month parental leave.

Ghazal will be the one responsible to question Premier François Legault in the National Assembly during question period.

Ghazal, who was born in Lebanon, is a founding member of QS. She was elected as the Mercia MNA in 2018 and was later re-elected in 2022. She currently defends issues related to education, the French language and the status of women.

The congress will also be called upon to modify the party’s statutes, which date from 2006, to make one of the two co-spokespersons the leader of QS within the meaning of electoral law.

Currently, it is the secretary general of QS who has this legal status of “leader.” Since the races for spokesperson are not real leadership races, candidates cannot collect donations for their campaigns.

If the proposal is adopted, the party said that it will not change the role of the co-spokespersons, and the “leader” will not automatically be made parliamentary leader.

Currently, Nadeau-Dubois is the parliamentary leader of QS; he asks Legault questions in the National Assembly and participates in leaders’ debates during election periods.

“We are maintaining our democratic and equal co-leadership operation, which is our strength, and if the reform of the statutes passes, the Director General of Elections (DGEQ) will allow us to run races with more funding and participation from members,” according to QS member Charles Castonguay.

In addition, delegates will vote on proposals to elect co-spokespersons by universal suffrage, to allow internal referendums and to leave no member without an association – with the aim being to increase member participation.

On a provincial scale, QS has lost ground over the past two years.

The party is currently ranked fourth behind the Parti Québécois (PQ), the Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ) and the Quebec Liberal Party (PLQ) in voting intentions, according to poll aggregator Qc125.

If a general election were held today, QS would win only nine seats, three fewer than in 2022, according to Qc125.

–This report by La Presse Canadienne was translated by CityNews