Hawkesbury town councillor Julie Séguin makes the leap into federal politics as the Conservative candidate for Prescott-Russell-Cumberland in the April 28 election.
“Public service has always a part of me,” said Séguin, during an interview March 29 prior to the official opening of her campaign office in Hawkesbury. “Federal politics is where my calling is.”
Séguin joined Hawkesbury council in 2022 after winning one of seats during the municipal election that year. During her term she has demonstrated interest in and support various local and regional social issues. She noted that several members of the local Conservative party association have also been pushing her since then to consider running as a candidate in the next federal election. She decided in 2023 that she would do so.
“I saw it as my time,” she said.
Between then and now, the Glengarry-Prescott-Russell riding underwent reconfiguration of its electoral boundaries. All of Glengarry County is now part of the federal riding of Stormont-Dundas-Glengarry. The Cumberland area is now part of the new riding of Prescott-Russell-Cumberland.
Séguin beat out Pierre Lemieux, former Conservative MP for Glengarry-Prescott-Russell for the Conservative candidate whose candidature was rejected by the Party. For the past two weeks she has focused on her door-to-door voter meet-and-greet campaign in advance of the April 28 federal election date. Over the last weekend of March, she opened her campaign office in Hawkesbury.
“I had this huge wave of love after my nomination,” she said, adding that she has received numerous calls of congratulations and offers of help with her campaign during the next few weeks.
Incumbent Liberal MP Francis Drouin announced last year that he will not seek reelection. Now there are all new names and faces on the ballot for the Conservative, Liberal, NDP, Green, and People’s Party of Canada in the race to determine who will be the MP for the newly-configured riding of Prescott-Russell-Cumberland.
“It sure makes the race fair,” said Séguin, who indicated she has one main goal as a candidate for the new riding.
“To be the voice of our riding in Ottawa,” she said. “At the end of the day, the MP is elected to be the representative of the riding.”
She noted that many local concerns, like the cost of living, are mirrored in the primary national issues of this year’s federal election.
“People are having a hard time making ends meet,” she said.
Séguin echoed the Conservative platform of getting tough on crime but she added that there is also a need to distinguish between dealing with real criminals and with people who may be dealing with addiction problems or with emotional, psychological or social issues and end up facing charges.
“We need to come down hard on the hardcore criminals,” she said, “but we also really need to help our homeless and people who are dealing with addiction. We need to help them.”
Séguin maintains a candidate profile on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/voteJulieSeguin/about/?_rdr.
CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story indicated Séguin had won a party vote to be the candidate in the new riding for Prescott-Russell-Cumberland. Her opponent, Pierre Lemieux, was in fact rejected by the party and no vote was held.
