Pascale St-Onge, candidate for the Liberal Party, was elected as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Brome-Missisquoi in 2021. She also serves as the federal Minister of Sport and Minister Responsible for the Economic Development Agency of Canada for the Regions of Quebec.
It’s her first run as a politician having previously worked as secretary general, and then president, of the Fédération nationale des communications et de la culture. With this role, she addressed the challenges facing the media and the cultural sector.
A year into her mandate, St-Onge looks back on her experience as the region’s political representative and what she has been doing on the ground in support of her riding.
“I’ve been meeting so many great people in the riding, whether it’s business owners, owners, workers. Also, there are so many good community organizations that are so precious and so involved in helping so many people that need it,” said St-Onge.
St-Onge added that her office has been focused on finding the programs and funding needed to support these community organizations, and everything to do with the environment. “We’ve had a very good meeting with my riding neighbour Marie-Claude Bibeau. We met with lake associations because we know that with climate change there is more invasive species in our lakes and we need to do more prevention. We also need to work on the science so that we can fight those phenomenons and protect our great lakes in our region,” she mentioned.
Looking back on some of the important initiatives carried out in her riding, St-Onge explained that she is often in Ottawa for work, but that when she comes to Brome-Missisquoi she tries to volunteer as much as possible. “For example, in Farnham there were people doing the food drive so we can get ready for Christmas and bring food on the table for families facing difficulties right now. This is something that I love to do,” she said. We’ve also invested more than $24 million dollars since I was elected in Brome-Missisquoi, noted St-Onge. “I was talking about the $18 million for the Magog arena, but also investing in the environment and helping organizations that want to protect our forests, territory, and our lakes. We’ve invested more than $2 million for that,” she explained. “Also, something that was really important for our government dealing with the pandemic, but then helping communities get out of it, was creating the Canada Community Revitalization Fund and Tourism Relief Fund.” The creation of these programs brought more than $1.5 million to the riding. “I’m pretty happy about that because this is a concrete action truly helping our riding, our wonderful Brome-Missisquoi, and I hope to do more for the next three years,” noted St-Onge.
In terms of the challenges she is addressing in the region, St-Onge highlighted that one of the major issues facing Brome-Missisquoi is a labour shortage.
“There are a lot of small and medium sized businesses in the riding and I’m meeting with a lot of business owners, but also workers. One thing that is always talked about in the meetings that I have is the shortage of workers. It’s really hard on the current workers that have more work on their plates, and also for the business owners to envision the future and make sure they can be productive,” she emphasized.
As the Minister Responsible for the Economic Development Agency of Canada for the Regions of Quebec, she also wants to work with businesses that are looking to shift to “greener” models of production. “We know that we need to do to fight climate change and small and medium sized businesses are certainly a part of that solution. With the agency, we want to create new programs to help small and medium sized businesses that want to transition to greener models, be more competitive, increase productivity, and decrease the shortage of workers. I know that Brome-Missisquoi businesses are concerned with those issues,” explained St-Onge.
Listen to the full interview below: