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Alain Rayes

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Alain Rayes
MP
Quebec Lieutenant
In office
November 8, 2021 – February 6, 2022
LeaderErin O'Toole
Candice Bergen (interim)
Preceded byRichard Martel
Succeeded byLuc Berthold
In office
July 20, 2017 – September 2, 2020
LeaderAndrew Scheer
Erin O'Toole
Preceded byDenis Lebel
Succeeded byRichard Martel
Mayor of Victoriaville
In office
November 2, 2009 – January 1, 2015
Preceded byRoger Richard
Succeeded byChristian Lettre (interim)
Member of Parliament
for Richmond—Arthabaska
Incumbent
Assumed office
October 19, 2015
Preceded byAndré Bellavance
Shadow cabinet posts
2021–2022Shadow Minister for Official Languages
2020–2021Shadow Minister for Canadian Heritage, Official Languages & Quebec Economic Development
2017–2019Shadow Minister for Intergovernmental Affairs
Personal details
Born (1971-12-11) December 11, 1971 (age 53)
Victoriaville, Quebec, Canada
Political partyIndependent (federal, 2022–present)
CAQ (provincial)
Other political
affiliations		Conservative (federal, 2015–2022)
ADQ (provincial, 2003–2012)
ResidenceVictoriaville[1]

Alain Rayes MP (born December 11, 1971) is a Canadian politician, who was elected to represent the riding of Richmond—Arthabaska in the House of Commons of Canada in the 2015 Canadian federal election, and reelected in the 2019 and 2021 elections. He left the Conservative Party of Canada after Pierre Poilievre's leadership victory in 2022 and now sits as an Independent MP. From 2017 to 2019 and 2021 to 2022, Rayes served as Quebec lieutenant under Conservative leaders Andrew Scheer and Erin O'Toole.

Before federal politics, Rayes served for six years as the mayor of Victoriaville.

Biography

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Alain Rayes is a native of Victoriaville, He is the eldest of four children of a family originally from Egypt. He earned a bachelor of mathematics, specialising in teaching computer science, and later a masters in educational administration. He began his career as a teacher before obtaining management positions, including Director of the Polyvalente Le Boisé Victoriaville.

Provincial and municipal politics

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Rayes began his political career as a candidate for the ADQ alongside Mario Dumont, finishing second in Arthabaska during the 2003 Quebec general election. He transitioned to municipal politics and was elected mayor of Victoriaville in Quebec's 2009 municipal elections, and was reelected in 2013 by acclamation.

Under Rayes' mayoralty in Victoriaville, activities included the construction of the cultural venue "Le Carré 150" Pool Édouard-Dubord, of Yvon-Paré Stadium, Gateway Beaudet reservoir, the park's entertainment site at the youth baseball place of Victoriaville Stadium, Sani-Marc sports Complex and the sport Complex Promutuel.

Federal politics

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After six years as mayor, Rayes decided to enter federal politics and was elected in October 2015 as the Conservative member for Richmond-Arthabaska. Upon his election as MP, he was appointed deputy spokesman for Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness. Within this portfolio, Rayes was in charge of the marijuana legalization issue. His public interventions were on the issue of electoral reform as he was identified with Gérard Deltell, among the official spokesmen of the party on this issue. Then in July 2016, Rona Ambrose, the interim leader of the Conservative Party, assigned him as deputy spokesman for Foreign Affairs before becoming spokesman partner on infrastructure, communities and Urban Affairs in September and entering the shadow cabinet.

After Andrew Scheer won the 2017 Conservative Party of Canada leadership election, Rayes served as his Quebec lieutenant from 2017 to 2019.[2] On September 2, 2020, Rayes was succeeded by Richard Martel as the party's Quebec lieutenant.[3] Rayes returned to the role on November 8, 2021, and served until resigning on February 6, 2022 in order to play a role in the Conservative leadership election.[4]

On September 13, 2022, Rayes left the Conservative caucus following Pierre Poilievre's victory in the leadership race on September 10, 2022. Rayes said that his values were incompatible with the new leadership and that he self-identified as a "Progressive Conservative". He will continue to sit as an independent in the House.[2][5] On September 14, 2022, Rayes told the National Post that he suspected that Poilievre's leadership team tried to intimidate Rayes by sending text messages to Conservative members of Richmond-Arthabaska in order to pressure Rayes into resigning his seat.[6][7] Within the same day, the party admitted and apologized to the members of the riding by sending a tweet but not directly apologizing to Rayes.[8] The next day, Rayes released a statement on Twitter noting the apology was not directed personally towards him but "will let the population judge their message" and wants to move on from leaving the party.[9] In Léa Clermont-Dion's documentary, "La peur au ventre," he also revealed that another reason that factor in leaving the party which is the growing influence of anti-abortion activists within the party.[10] Rayes states that the Conservative party leader plays lip service to them despite publicly opposing any attempt to restrict abortion.[10]

A year later, Rayes announced that he was not running in the upcoming election and would leave politics.[11]

Electoral record

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Federal

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2021 Canadian federal election
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Alain Rayes 28,513 49.9 +4.6
Bloc Québécois Diego Scalzo 14,150 24.8 -3.4
Liberal Alexandre Desmarais 8,543 14.9 -0.2
New Democratic Nataël Bureau 2,550 4.5 -0.4
People's Nadine Fougeron 2,058 3.6 +2.4
Free Louis Richard 897 1.6 N/A
Rhinoceros Marjolaine Delisle 448 0.8 N/A
Total valid votes 57,159 98.1
Total rejected ballots 1,125 1.9
Turnout 58,284 66.3
Eligible voters 87,942
Conservative hold Swing +4.0
Source: Elections Canada[12]
2019 Canadian federal election: Richmond—Arthabaska
Party Candidate Votes % ±% Expenditures
Conservative Alain Rayes 26,553 45.3 +13.70 $62,920.65
Bloc Québécois Olivier Nolin 16,539 28.2 +11.00 none listed
Liberal Marc Patry 8,868 15.1 -9.60 $14,690.80
Green Laura Horth-Lepage 3,133 5.3 +3.60 none listed
New Democratic Olivier Guérin 2,864 4.9 -19.30 $0.33
People's Jean Landry 681 1.2 - $462.33
Total valid votes/expense limit 58,638 100.0
Total rejected ballots 1,077
Turnout 59,715 68.8
Eligible voters 86,741
Conservative hold Swing +1.35
Source: Elections Canada[13][14]
2015 Canadian federal election: Richmond—Arthabaska
Party Candidate Votes % ±% Expenditures
Conservative Alain Rayes 18,505 31.6 +6.9 –
Liberal Marc Desmarais 14,463 24.7 +17.7 –
New Democratic Myriam Beaulieu 14,213 24.2 -8.3 –
Bloc Québécois Olivier Nolin 10,068 17.2 -16.6 –
Green Laurier Busque 984 1.7 -0.4 –
Rhinoceros Antoine Dubois 384 0.7 – –
Total valid votes/Expense limit – 100.0     $223,651.10
Total rejected ballots – – –
Turnout – – –
Eligible voters 85,118
Conservative hold Swing -5.40
Source: Elections Canada[15][16]

Provincial

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2003 Quebec general election: Arthabaska
Party Candidate Votes %
Liberal Claude Bachand 12,663 36.77
Action démocratique Alain Rayes 11,389 33.07
Parti Québécois Danièle Caron 9,657 28.04
Green François Houle 379 1.10
Bloc Pot Karine Cyr 353 1.02
Total valid votes 34,441 99.15
Total rejected ballots 269 0.85
Turnout 34,737 73.58
Electors on the lists 47,185 –

Municipal

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2013 Victoriaville mayoral election
Candidate Vote %
Alain Rayes (X) Acclaimed
2009 Victoriaville mayoral election
Candidate Vote %
Alain Rayes 10,807 62.8
Éric Lefebvre 5,722 33.2
Martin Talbot 524 3.0
René Martineau 161 0.9

References

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  1. ^ "Official Voting Results". Elections Canada. Retrieved January 23, 2021.
  2. ^ a b Connolly, Amanda; Boutilier, Alex (September 13, 2022). "Quebec MP Alain Rayes leaves Conservative caucus after Poilievre victory". Global News. Retrieved September 9, 2022.
  3. ^ "Conservative Party: Richard Martel becomes Quebec lieutenant, Gérard Deltell becomes parliamentary leader". HuffPost (in French). September 2, 2020. Retrieved September 2, 2020.
  4. ^ "Alain Rayes resigns as Conservative Party's Quebec lieutenant". CBC News. February 6, 2022. Retrieved February 7, 2022.
  5. ^ @AlainRayes (13 September 2022). "Déclaration officielle // Official statement 🗒️👇#polcan #cndpoli 📺" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  6. ^ Lévesque, Catherine (2022-09-14). "Defecting Quebec Tory MP Alain Rayes alleges 'intimidation' tactics from Poilievre's team". National Post. Retrieved 2022-09-15.
  7. ^ "Text message campaign targets Quebec MP Alain Rayes, who left Conservative party". CTVNews. 2022-09-14. Retrieved 2022-09-15.
  8. ^ Lévesque, Catherine (2022-09-15). "Conservatives apologize after texts sent to members attacking defecting Quebec MP Alain Rayes". National Post. Retrieved 2022-09-15.
  9. ^ "MP Alain Rayes says he will let Canadians be judge of Conservatives' apology for 'intimidation'". montrealgazette. Retrieved 2022-09-15.
  10. ^ a b McKenna, Kate (October 24, 2024). "Ex-Conservative MP claims anti-abortion movement has influence inside the party". Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.
  11. ^ "Former Quebec Conservative MP Alain Rayes won't seek re-election | Globalnews.ca". Global News. Retrieved 2024-10-24.
  12. ^ "List of confirmed candidates – September 20, 2021 Federal Election". Elections Canada. Retrieved 2 September 2021.
  13. ^ "List of confirmed candidates". Elections Canada. Retrieved October 3, 2019.
  14. ^ "Election Night Results". Elections Canada. Retrieved November 10, 2019.
  15. ^ Elections Canada – Confirmed candidates for Richmond—Arthabaska, 30 September 2015
  16. ^ Elections Canada – Preliminary Election Expenses Limits for Candidates Archived 2016-03-04 at the Wayback Machine
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