Émilise Lessard-Therrien is a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

politician, who was elected to the

National Assembly of Quebec The National Assembly of Quebec (officially in french: link=no, Assemblée nationale du Québec) is the legislative body of the province of Quebec in Canada. Legislators are called MNAs (Members of the National Assembly; french: link=no, déput ...

in the 2018 provincial election. She represented the electoral district of Rouyn-Noranda–Témiscamingue as a member of Québec solidaire until her defeat in the

2022 Quebec general election The 2022 Quebec general election was held on October 3, 2022, to elect the members of the National Assembly of Quebec. Under the province's fixed election date law, passed in 2013, "the general election following the end of a Legislature shall b ...

. In March 2019, Lessard-Therrien in an interview expressed concern over possible land grabs in the province by Chinese nationals. She said that, with

climate change In common usage, climate change describes global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes to ...

, Quebec would be one of the few places left with good, arable land and fresh water in a few years’ time and that the Temiscamingue region had much unexploited land that was being scouted by Chinese nationals. She also said “Between us, we call them predators,” she said. “They are predators of agricultural land. And we see them, we feel them. And what I’m saying is that fallow land still has potential to be farmed again, but land that belongs to China may never feed Quebecers, and it’s important that we be concerned now.”

References

Living people 1991 births People from Abitibi-Témiscamingue Québec solidaire MNAs Women MNAs in Quebec 21st-century Canadian politicians 21st-century Canadian women politicians Université du Québec en Abitibi-Témiscamingue alumni Université du Québec en Abitibi-Témiscamingue alumni Canadian farmers {{Quebec-MNA-stub