Alain Rayes
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 Conservative leader Andrew Scheer as well as Erin O'Toole's Quebec lieutenant.
Alain Rayes | |
|---|---|
| Quebec Lieutenant | |
| In office November 8, 2021 – February 6, 2022 | |
| Leader | Erin O'Toole Candice Bergen (interim) |
| Preceded by | Richard Martel |
| Succeeded by | Luc Berthold |
| In office July 20, 2017 – September 2, 2020 | |
| Leader | Andrew Scheer Erin O'Toole |
| Preceded by | Denis Lebel |
| Succeeded by | Richard Martel |
| Mayor of Victoriaville | |
| In office November 2, 2009 – January 1, 2015 | |
| Preceded by | Roger Richard |
| Succeeded by | Christian Lettre (interim) |
| Member of Parliament for Richmond—Arthabaska | |
| Assumed office October 19, 2015 | |
| Preceded by | André Bellavance |
| Shadow cabinet posts | |
| 2021–2022 | Shadow Minister for Official Languages |
| 2020–2021 | Shadow Minister for Canadian Heritage, Official Languages & Quebec Economic Development |
| 2017–2019 | Shadow Minister for Intergovernmental Affairs |
| Personal details | |
| Born | December 11, 1971 Victoriaville, Quebec, Canada |
| Political party | Independent (federal, 2022–present) CAQ (provincial) |
| Other political affiliations | Conservative (federal, 2015–2022) ADQ (provincial, 2003–2012) |
| Residence | Victoriaville[1] |
Before federal politics, Rayes served for six years as the mayor of Victoriaville.
Biography Edit
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 Edit
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 Edit
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 Edit
Federal Edit
| 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[10] | ||||||||
| 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[11][12] | ||||||||
| 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[13][14] | ||||||||
Provincial Edit
| 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 Edit
| 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 Edit
- ^ "Official Voting Results". Elections Canada. Retrieved January 23, 2021.
- ^ 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.
- ^ "Conservative Party: Richard Martel becomes Quebec lieutenant, Gérard Deltell becomes parliamentary leader". HuffPost (in French). September 2, 2020. Retrieved September 2, 2020.
- ^ "Alain Rayes resigns as Conservative Party's Quebec lieutenant". CBC News. February 6, 2022. Retrieved February 7, 2022.
- ^ @AlainRayes (13 September 2022). "Déclaration officielle // Official statement 🗒️👇#polcan #cndpoli 📺" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
- ^ Lévesque, Catherine (2022-09-14). "Defecting Quebec Tory MP Alain Rayes alleges 'intimidation' tactics from Poilievre's team". National Post. Retrieved 2022-09-15.
- ^ "Text message campaign targets Quebec MP Alain Rayes, who left Conservative party". CTVNews. 2022-09-14. Retrieved 2022-09-15.
- ^ Lévesque, Catherine (2022-09-15). "Conservatives apologize after texts sent to members attacking defecting Quebec MP Alain Rayes". National Post. Retrieved 2022-09-15.
- ^ "MP Alain Rayes says he will let Canadians be judge of Conservatives' apology for 'intimidation'". montrealgazette. Retrieved 2022-09-15.
- ^ "List of confirmed candidates – September 20, 2021 Federal Election". Elections Canada. Retrieved 2 September 2021.
- ^ "List of confirmed candidates". Elections Canada. Retrieved October 3, 2019.
- ^ "Election Night Results". Elections Canada. Retrieved November 10, 2019.
- ^ Elections Canada – Confirmed candidates for Richmond—Arthabaska, 30 September 2015
- ^ Elections Canada – Preliminary Election Expenses Limits for Candidates 2016-03-04 at the Wayback Machine
External links Edit
- Alain Rayes – Parliament of Canada biography
- Official website - Alain Rayes MP