Alain Rayes
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
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
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. 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

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

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

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]

Electoral record

Federal

2021 Canadian federal election
Party Candidate Votes%±%
ConservativeAlain Rayes28,51349.9+4.6
Bloc QuébécoisDiego Scalzo14,15024.8-3.4
LiberalAlexandre Desmarais8,54314.9-0.2
New DemocraticNataël Bureau2,5504.5-0.4
People'sNadine Fougeron2,0583.6+2.4
FreeLouis Richard8971.6N/A
RhinocerosMarjolaine Delisle4480.8N/A
Total valid votes 57,15998.1
Total rejected ballots 1,1251.9
Turnout 58,28466.3
Eligible voters 87,942
Conservative hold Swing +4.0
Source: Elections Canada[10]
2019 Canadian federal election: Richmond—Arthabaska
Party Candidate Votes%±%Expenditures
ConservativeAlain Rayes26,55345.3+13.70$62,920.65
Bloc QuébécoisOlivier Nolin16,53928.2+11.00none listed
LiberalMarc Patry8,86815.1-9.60$14,690.80
GreenLaura Horth-Lepage3,1335.3+3.60none listed
New DemocraticOlivier Guérin2,8644.9-19.30$0.33
People'sJean Landry6811.2-$462.33
Total valid votes/expense limit 58,638100.0
Total rejected ballots 1,077
Turnout 59,71568.8
Eligible voters 86,741
Conservative hold Swing +1.35
Source: Elections Canada[11][12]
2015 Canadian federal election: Richmond—Arthabaska
Party Candidate Votes%±%Expenditures
ConservativeAlain Rayes18,50531.6+6.9
LiberalMarc Desmarais14,46324.7+17.7
New DemocraticMyriam Beaulieu14,21324.2-8.3
Bloc QuébécoisOlivier Nolin10,06817.2-16.6
GreenLaurier Busque9841.7-0.4
RhinocerosAntoine Dubois3840.7
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[13][14]

Provincial

2003 Quebec general election: Arthabaska
Party Candidate Votes%
LiberalClaude Bachand12,66336.77
Action démocratiqueAlain Rayes11,38933.07
Parti QuébécoisDanièle Caron9,65728.04
GreenFrançois Houle3791.10
Bloc PotKarine Cyr3531.02
Total valid votes 34,44199.15
Total rejected ballots 2690.85
Turnout 34,73773.58
Electors on the lists 47,185

Municipal

2013 Victoriaville mayoral election
Candidate Vote  %
Alain Rayes (X) Acclaimed
2009 Victoriaville mayoral election
Candidate Vote  %
Alain Rayes10,80762.8
Éric Lefebvre5,72233.2
Martin Talbot5243.0
René Martineau1610.9

References

  1. "Official Voting Results". Elections Canada. Retrieved January 23, 2021.
  2. 1 2 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 (September 13, 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. "List of confirmed candidates – September 20, 2021 Federal Election". Elections Canada. Retrieved 2 September 2021.
  11. "List of confirmed candidates". Elections Canada. Retrieved October 3, 2019.
  12. "Election Night Results". Elections Canada. Retrieved November 10, 2019.
  13. Elections Canada – Confirmed candidates for Richmond—Arthabaska, 30 September 2015
  14. Elections Canada – Preliminary Election Expenses Limits for Candidates Archived 2016-03-04 at the Wayback Machine
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