{"id":575472,"date":"2026-04-01T16:20:12","date_gmt":"2026-04-01T16:20:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/575472\/"},"modified":"2026-04-01T16:20:12","modified_gmt":"2026-04-01T16:20:12","slug":"quebecs-last-ndp-mp-weighs-his-future-in-ottawa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/575472\/","title":{"rendered":"Quebec’s last NDP MP weighs his future in Ottawa"},"content":{"rendered":"

Fresh off his anointment as leader of the federal New Democrats, Avi Lewis gave an overture to Quebec\u2019s last remaining NDP Member of Parliament.<\/p>\n

Alexandre Boulerice, whose Montreal consitutency of Rosemont\u2014La Petite-Patrie is now the party\u2019s only seat east of Manitoba, had in recent weeks been flirting with a jump to Qu\u00e9bec solidaire. In February, the Quebec party made an exception<\/a> to a rule barring men from running in certain ridings, reportedly to allow Boulerice to run.<\/p>\n

After taking the NDP contest with 56 per cent support on the first ballot, Lewis told reporters he had \u201clooked (Boulerice) in the eyes and I said, \u2018please stay with us.’\u201d<\/p>\n

The conversation, which took place on the sidelines of the party\u2019s Winnipeg convention Sunday, \u201ctouched me a lot,\u201d Boulerice told The Gazette.<\/p>\n

The MP said he had replied to Lewis that \u201cI was going to think about it and come back to him.\u201d Lewis \u201cwas happy with the response,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Once the epicentre of the \u201cOrange Crush\u201d that in 2011 propelled the NDP to official opposition status in Ottawa, Quebec today is no longer a bastion of NDP support.<\/p>\n

In 2011, Boulerice entered Parliament as one of the party\u2019s 59 Quebec MPs under then-leader Jack Layton. Now, with the party holding just six seats in Parliament, Boulerice\u2019s possible departure could spell trouble for the party\u2019s already battered reputation in Quebec.<\/p>\n

In November, the NDP attracted mockery when its five leadership candidates struggled to string full sentences together<\/a> in French during a leadership debate in Montreal.<\/p>\n

\t\tEditor\u2019s Picks\t<\/p>\n

The candidates\u2019 lack of French made for a campaign that \u201cwasn\u2019t very present\u201d in Quebec, Boulerice said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s difficult to talk about the leadership race if the candidates can\u2019t really give interviews in French.\u201d<\/p>\n

How does Boulerice assess Lewis\u2019s French?<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not perfect, I\u2019ll put it that way,\u201d he said. But \u201cit\u2019s still the best of the five candidates.\u201d<\/p>\n

Their conversation Sunday was in English, he said.<\/p>\n

Lewis is \u201cconscious that he needs to improve, he told me so. He\u2019s committed to it,\u201d Boulerice said.<\/p>\n

But gaining ground in Quebec will take more than a command of the French language, the MP said. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt will take a leader who will speak to Quebecers, so, obviously, the question of language is important, but also an understanding of Quebec\u2019s history and culture.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI told Avi Sunday, \u2018you need to come to Quebec. You need to come to Quebec\u2019s regions, to meetings with people from different associations.’\u201d <\/p>\n

Lewis agreed to the proposal, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cQuebecers are going to realize in the medium or short term that (Prime Minister Mark) Carney is a lot more conservative than he presented himself to be,\u201d Boulerice said, which will offer an opening for the NDP in a province where he described many voters as progressive \u201csocial democrats.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lewis\u2019s proposals for a public grocer and telecom provider, as well as for a massive social housing expansion, are likely to resonate with many, he said.<\/p>\n

But it\u2019s still up in the air whether Boulerice will be at Lewis\u2019s side as he attempts to make inroads in Quebec.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m reflecting. I\u2019m in discussions with Qu\u00e9bec solidaire,\u201d Boulerice said, promising to make up his mind sometime \u201cin the coming weeks.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Profile<\/a><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\tI’ve reported for The Gazette since 2024. I love covering a good politics story, but any day I tell Montrealers something new about the world around them feels like a good one. Got a tip for me? Email me at jawilson@postmedia.com\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Fresh off his anointment as leader of the federal New Democrats, Avi Lewis gave an overture to Quebec\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":575473,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194295],"tags":[49,48,20739],"class_list":["post-575472","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ottawa","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-ottawa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/575472","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=575472"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/575472\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/575473"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=575472"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=575472"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=575472"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}