Élaine Michaud

Élaine Michaud (born October 17, 1985) is a Canadian politician, who was elected to the House of Commons of Canada in the 2011 election.^[1] She represented the Quebec electoral district of Portneuf—Jacques-Cartier as a member of the New Democratic Party. She was defeated in 2015 by Joël Godin of the Conservative Party.

Élaine Michaud
Member of Parliament for Portneuf—Jacques-Cartier
In office May 2, 2011 – August 4, 2015
Preceded by	André Arthur
Succeeded by	Joël Godin
Personal details
Born	(1985-10-17) October 17, 1985 (age 39) Longueuil, Quebec, Canada
Political party	New Democratic Party
Profession	Information agent

Biography

At the time of her election, she was a communications officer at the Régie de l'assurance maladie du Québec and a masters student at the École nationale d'administration publique.^[2]

Michaud won with 42.7% of the vote, defeating incumbent independent MP André Arthur by a margin of 7,793 votes. After the election, Arthur insulted her, saying he did not know what he could have said to people in his riding to avoid being beaten by a "fat girl with unclean teeth."^[3] Michaud responded saying that the comments reflected Arthur's "well-known pettiness" and stating she intended to "do politics differently."^[4]

Among Michaud's issues in the 41st Parliament were the issue of contaminated water in Shannon, Quebec, near the Valcartier military base in her riding^[5] and public opposition to the construction of Neuville Airport.^[6]

During the 41st Parliament, Michaud served as a member of the House Committees on Environment and Sustainable Development and Official Languages, and an associate member of the Committees on Finance, National Defence, and Veterans Affairs.^[7]

In the 2012 NDP leadership race following the death of Jack Layton, Michaud supported Peggy Nash.^[8] Michaud was defeated in the 2015 election by Conservative Joël Godin.

Following her defeat, Michaud stood for the presidency of the NDP after criticizing the leadership of Thomas Mulcair.^[9] Michaud was defeated by Toronto District School Board trustee Marit Stiles.

Electoral history

v t e 2015 Canadian federal election: Portneuf—Jacques-Cartier
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	Conservative	Joël Godin	27,290	43.97	+16.2	$71,670.38
	New Democratic	Élaine Michaud	13,686	22.05	-20.6	$76,976.38
	Liberal	David Gauvin	13,322	21.47	+14.9	$48,792.76
	Bloc Québécois	Raymond Harvey	6,665	10.74	-9.8	$11,313.73
	Green	Johanne Morin	1,096	1.77	-0.6	–
Total valid votes/expense limit			62,059	100.0		$227,576.17
Total rejected ballots			781	1.39	–
Turnout			62,840	72.33	–
Eligible voters			86,884
	Conservative gain from New Democratic		Swing		+18.4*
Source: Elections Canada[10][11] Swing is taken from André Arthur, an independent candidate supported by the Conservatives in the last election.

v t e 2011 Canadian federal election: Portneuf—Jacques-Cartier
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	New Democratic	Élaine Michaud	22,387	42.7	+30.0
	Independent	André Arthur	14,594	27.8	-5.8
	Bloc Québécois	Richard Côté	10,745	20.5	-11.5
	Liberal	Réjean Thériault	3,463	6.6	-9.7
	Green	Claudine Delorme	1,279	2.4	-1.2
Total valid votes/expense limit			52,468	100.0
Total rejected ballots			946	1.8	-0.6
Turnout			53,414	66.2	+5.4
Eligible voters			80,694	–	–