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Alexandra Mendès MP (born November 3, 1963) is a Canadian Liberal politician, currently serving as the Member of Parliament for the riding of Brossard—Saint-Lambert since 2015. She previously served in the House of Commons from 2008 until 2011 as the MP for the riding of Brossard—La Prairie.

Biography

Mendès worked as a constituency assistant to Jacques Saada, who served as a Liberal MP for Brossard—La Prairie from 1997 to 2006. She also taught at the Brossard Portuguese School.[1] Mendès was a Quebec assistant to Bob Rae for a period of eight months during his leadership campaign. She has worked for fifteen years at a settlement organization for new immigrants and refugees at Maison Internationale de la Rive-Sud.[2]

She was elected to the House of Commons in 2008, defeating Bloc Quebecois MP Marcel Lussier, who had defeated her former boss Saada in the previous election. She initially came in second by 102 votes, but a recount ordered by Elections Canada resulted in her winning by a margin of 69 votes.[3] She was defeated in the 2011 election by NDP candidate Hoang Mai.

In August 2011, Mendès announced her candidacy for the presidency of the Liberal Party of Canada.[4] She was defeated in her race for the presidency by Mike Crawley, but remained a committed member of the party, making appearances on CTV and CBC's Power and Politics representing the party. In June 2012, Mendès became President of the Liberal Party's Quebec wing, the Liberal Party of Canada (Quebec).

In the 2015 federal election, Mendès was the Liberal candidate in the newly created riding of Brossard—Saint-Lambert, again facing off against Mai. She defeated Mai, returning to the House of Commons.

On April 6, 2017, Mendès moved a motion "That the House do now proceed to Orders of the Day" during debate on a Question of Privilege of an instance of Members of Parliament having their Rights as Members denied. Such a motion during a debate on a Question of Privilege had never been made before in Canadian Parliamentary History. The Liberal majority voted in favour of Mendès's motion, preventing the issue from being reviewed by the Canadian House of Commons Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs.[5]

On April 11, 2017, the Speaker of the House of Commons Geoff Regan said the motion was unprecedented and ruled that the Question of Privilege should be revived.[6]

As a child, Mendès was a member of the Girl Guides of Canada and has spoken in the House of Commons about her view that "much of what (she is) today (she) owes to Guiding".[7]

On February 28, 2019, Mendès created controversy when during an emergency debate on the SNC-Lavalin affair she said "I really do not understand why this is a big deal."[8][9]

Mendès was re-elected in the 2019 Canadian federal election.

On December 10, 2019, Mendès was appointed Assistant Deputy Speaker and Assistant Deputy Chair of Committees of the Whole[10]

Mendes holds Dual-citizenship with Portugal.[11]

Electoral record

2021 Canadian federal election: Brossard—Saint-Lambert
Party Candidate Votes % ±% Expenditures
Liberal Alexandra Mendès 28,326 54.1 +0.2 $43,143.97
Bloc Québécois Marie-Laurence Desgagné 10,441 19.9 +0.3 $2,261.56
Conservative Marcos Alves 6,276 12.0 +1.2 $5,119.08
New Democratic Marc Audet 5,442 10.4 +0.9 $1,969.07
People's Brenda Ross 1,288 2.5 +1.6 $2,754.06
Free Engineer-Ingénieur Hu 583 1.1 N/A $84.25
Total valid votes/expense limit 52,356 98.6 – $113,037.00
Total rejected ballots 744 1.4
Turnout 53,100 63.8
Registered voters 83,246
Liberal hold Swing -0.1
Source: Elections Canada[12]
2019 Canadian federal election: Brossard—Saint-Lambert
Party Candidate Votes % ±% Expenditures
Liberal Alexandra Mendès 30,537 53.9 +3.6 $51,952.14
Bloc Québécois Marie-Claude Diotte 11,131 19.6 +9 none listed
Conservative Glenn Hoa 6,112 10.8 -1.6 $13,207.97
New Democratic Marc Audet 5,410 9.5 -15.1 $4,953.35
Green Grégory De Luca 2,935 5.2 +3.3 $4,793.32
People's Sam Nassif 527 0.9 none listed
Total valid votes/expense limit 56,652 100.0
Total rejected ballots 657
Turnout 57,309 68.7
Eligible voters 83,447
Liberal hold Swing -2.70
Source: Elections Canada[13][14]
2015 Canadian federal election: Brossard—Saint-Lambert
Party Candidate Votes % ±% Expenditures
Liberal Alexandra Mendès 28,818 50.3 +17.55 –
New Democratic Hoang Mai 14,075 24.6 -12.21 –
Conservative Qais Hamidi 7,215 12.6 -0.22 –
Bloc Québécois Suzanne Lachance 6,071 10.6 -5.35 –
Green Fang Hu 1,089 1.9 +0.39 –
Total valid votes/Expense limit 57,260 100.0     $220,572.15
Total rejected ballots 549 0.94 –
Turnout 57,809 69.16 –
Eligible voters 83,194
Source: Elections Canada[15][16]


2011 Canadian federal election: Brossard—La Prairie
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
New Democratic Hoang Mai 25,512 41.02 +28.31
Liberal Alexandra Mendès (incumbent) 16,976 27.30 −5.29
Bloc Québécois Marcel Lussier 10,890 17.51 −14.96
Conservative Maurice Brossard 7,806 12.55 −6.32
Green Kevin Murphy 900 1.45 −1.65
Marxist–Leninist Normand Chouinard 110 0.18 −0.09
Total valid votes 62,194 100.00
Total rejected ballots 569
Turnout 62,763
Source: Official Results, Elections Canada.
2008 Canadian federal election: Brossard—La Prairie
Party Candidate Votes % ±% Expenditures
Liberal Alexandra Mendès 19,103 32.59 −2.42 $36,025
Bloc Québécois Marcel Lussier 19,034 32.47 −4.70 $55,711
Conservative Maurice Brossard 11,062 18.87 +1.96 $66,126
New Democratic Hoang Mai 7,452 12.71 +5.25 $5,453
Green Sonia Ziadé 1,816 3.10 −0.17 $1,057
Marxist–Leninist Normand Chouinard 157 0.27 +0.08 none listed
Total valid votes 58,624 100.00
Total rejected ballots 563
Turnout 59,187 64.57 −2.49
Electors on the lists 91,662
Sources: Official Results, Elections Canada and Financial Returns, Elections Canada. Italicized expenditures refer to totals submitted by the candidate and are presented when the reviewed totals are not available.

References

  1. ^ "Election 2008 candidate profile: Alexandra Mendes, The Globe and Mail.
  2. ^ "Candidate Profile: Alexandra Mendes", CBC News, 2008.
  3. ^ "Liberals oust Bloc in suburban Montreal following recount", CBC News, October 24, 2008.
  4. ^ "Liberal Caucus: Party Regroups, Focuses On Economy", Huffington Post, 2011.
  5. ^ "Debates (Hansard) No. 161 - April 6, 2017 (42-1) - House of Commons of Canada".
  6. ^ "Debates (Hansard) No. 164 - April 11, 2017 (42-1) - House of Commons of Canada".
  7. ^ "Alexandra Mendes, "Girl Guides of Canada" on March 9th, 2010 | openparliament.ca". openparliament.ca. Retrieved 2018-11-30.
  8. ^ "Debates (Hansard) No. 389 - February 28, 2019 (42-1) - House of Commons of Canada".
  9. ^ "'Don't understand what's the big deal': Liberal MP on SNC-Lavalin controversy | Watch News Videos Online". Global News.
  10. ^ "Speaker of the House of Commons - Alexandra Mendès". www.ourcommons.ca.
  11. ^ "As Australia ousts MPs with dual citizenship, Canada's Parliament embraces many in its ranks". CBC. 8 December 2017. Retrieved 17 July 2023.
  12. ^ "Confirmed candidates — Brossard—Saint-Lambert". Elections Canada. Retrieved 20 September 2021.
  13. ^ "List of confirmed candidates". Elections Canada. Retrieved October 3, 2019.
  14. ^ "Election Night Results". Elections Canada. Retrieved November 12, 2019.
  15. ^ "Voter Information Service - Find your electoral district". www.elections.ca.
  16. ^ "Elections Canada Online | Final Candidates Election Expenses Limits". Archived from the original on 2016-03-04.

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