Preceded by Andre Gaulin Party Parti Quebecois Role Politician | Name Agnes Maltais Political party Parti Quebecois | |
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Born November 7, 1956 (age 67)
Sault-au-Mouton, Quebec ( 1956-11-07 ) Portfolio Capitale-Nationale, public works Similar People Stephane Bedard, Sam Hamad, Rene Levesque, Amir Khadir, Gaetan Barrette Profiles | ||
Agnès Maltais interview with Life in Québec Magazine
Agnès Maltais (born November 7, 1956) is a Quebec politician. She is the current Member of National Assembly of Quebec for the riding of Taschereau in the Quebec City region. She represents the Parti Québécois.
Maltais would mostly work in the theatrical sector being a development agent for Video-Femmes and the director of the Periscope and the la Bordée theaters. She was also a member of the Conseil québécois de théâtre. She was a political activist since 1976 when she obtained a diploma at the Cégep de Sainte-Foy. She was a spokesperson for the YES committee in the 1995 referendum and was involved in the organization of the Fête Nationale concerts and shows in 1991 and 1995.
Maltais was first elected in Taschereau in 1998 and became the Minister of Culture and Communications from 1998 to 2001. She was then named the Delegate Minister of Health, Social Services and Youth protection and Delegate Minister of Employment. Re-elected in 2003, she was the President of the Opposition Caucus. After 9 years in Opposition, the PQ formed a slim minority government after the 2012 election. Maltais immediately entered Cabinet as Minister of Labour, Employment, and Social Solidarity and Minister responsible for the status of women. In this portfolio, she presided over controversial changes to the social assistance system in Quebec, that put the PQ government in conflict with some anti-poverty groups. Maltais was also critical of changes to the EI system announced by the federal Conservative government in Ottawa.
Long identified with the left-wing of the Parti Quebecois, Maltais has been elected 6 times in the inner-city riding of Taschereau in Quebec City. While the riding had been a safe seat for the PQ, it has become much more marginal in recent years as the PQ has become increasingly less and less competitive in the Capital Region. In 2014, Maltais only held onto the riding by 400 votes over her Liberal challenger and it is the only PQ held seat in the region.
In 2003, Ms. Maltais became the first openly lesbian member of the National Assembly, when she came out to an audience at Laval University. In 2006, she participated in the International Conference on LGBT Human Rights.