{"id":1071,"date":"2014-04-30T17:45:00","date_gmt":"2014-04-30T17:45:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rf.podcastfixit.com\/index.php\/2014\/04\/30\/charbonneau-to-represent-laval-in\/"},"modified":"2015-06-01T19:41:10","modified_gmt":"2015-06-01T19:41:10","slug":"charbonneau-to-represent-laval-in","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newscoverage.org\/index.php\/2014\/04\/30\/charbonneau-to-represent-laval-in\/","title":{"rendered":"Charbonneau to represent Laval in cabinet"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Robert Frank<\/b>
\nwww.thesuburban.com<\/a><\/p>\n

There\u2019s a Laval resident at the Quebec cabinet table again. Quebec Premier Philippe Couillard tapped thrice-elected Mille \u00celes MNA Francine Charbonneau to serve as family minister, as well as minister for seniors. She will also lead the provinces fight against bullying. <\/p>\n

Couillard also made Charbonneau regional minister for Laval. Quebec\u2019s third-largest city had hitherto been the responsibility of Parti qu\u00e9b\u00e9cois<\/i> cabinet minister Nicole L\u00e9ger, a Montreal native who represented East End Pointe aux Trembles riding. <\/p>\n

Charbonneau is already well-acquainted with the family ministry, having served as parliamentary secretary to former Liberal family minister Yolande James from 2010-2012. Before entering politics in 2008, she spent the previous decade as a school commissioner with the Commission scolaire de Laval,<\/i> which she chaired from 2002-2008.<\/p>\n

Known for her feisty pragmatism, Charbonneau last year warned the National Assembly that the Parti Qu\u00e9b\u00e9cois obsession with French was giving the highly bilingual graduates of Quebec\u2019s English school boards a paradoxical advantage in the job market. Her remarks helped to force former premier Pauline Marois\u2019 to withdraw draconian language legislation known as Bill 14. <\/p>\n

\u201cCoercion simply isn’t the best way to get people to want to learn a language and preserve a culture,\u201d she told fellow legislators. \u201cNeither is stripping away rights. If you’re English, you have less rights than if you’re French. That’s not a very tolerant set of values.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cQuebec has always been a place that attracts people,\u201d she later told The Suburban<\/i> in an interview. \u201cI see that in the diversity that I witness here [in Laval] every day.\u201d <\/p>\n

Laval Mayor Marc Demers welcomed Charbonneau\u2019s appointment to represent Laval.<\/p>\n

\u201cMs. Charbonneau knows the region\u2019s issues well and she seems to be a results-oriented, honest broker,\u201d the mayor said in a statement. <\/p>\n

Three other Laval MNAs also received parliamentary appointments last week.<\/p>\n