A quick re-shuffling of shadow cabinet responsibilities will see the agriculture critic for Quebec’s provincial opposition Liberals now also handle the health file.
The Liberals’ interim leader Marc Tanguay — who took over after the Nov. 7 resignation of Dominique Anglade following the Oct. 3 general election — announced Tuesday that Andre Fortin, the party’s new critic for agriculture, fisheries and food, will now also be the party’s critic for health.
Fortin, the MNA for the southwestern riding of Pontiac since 2014, had been named by Anglade on Oct. 27 as the opposition ag critic.
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As ag critic, Fortin replaces Paule Robitaille, who had handled the file for a year but opted not to seek re-election last month in her riding of Bourassa-Sauve.
The health file was previously to be handled by the party’s deputy house leader Monsef Derraji, MNA for the Montreal-area riding of Nelligan, but he was promoted Tuesday to the role of house leader, replacing Tanguay.
Fortin’s critic portfolios will also still include regional economic development, forestry, and responsibility for the Outaouais and Abitibi-Temiscamingue regions.
Anglade had also named Fortin last month to handle the economy, innovation and energy portfolios — but the economy and innovation files were reassigned Tuesday to finance critic Frederic Beauchemin, while natural resources critic Gregory Kelley will now also handle the energy file.
Before entering provincial politics, Fortin had worked in government relations for telecommunications firm Telus and as director of public affairs for the Brewers Association of Canada. He also previously served as a media relations officer for then-prime minister Paul Martin.
During his first term in office as an MNA on the government side, Fortin served as a member of the assembly committee on agriculture, fisheries, energy and natural resources. He was also minister of transport under then-premier Philippe Couillard for about a year before the Liberals were ousted by Francois Legault’s Coalition avenir Quebec (CAQ) in 2018.
The CAQ, which came out of last month’s election with a bigger majority government, has already announced it will keep its incumbent agriculture minister, Andre Lamontagne, when the provincial assembly resumes sitting Nov. 29. — Glacier FarmMedia Network
