Alexandra Mendès

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 Montreal riding of Brossard—La Prairie.

Alexandra Mendès MP
Member of the Canadian Parliament for Brossard—Saint-Lambert
Incumbent
Assumed office October 19, 2015
Preceded by	Hoang Mai
Member of the Canadian Parliament for Brossard—La Prairie
In office October 14, 2008 – May 2, 2011
Preceded by	Marcel Lussier
Succeeded by	Hoang Mai
Personal details
Born	November 3, 1963 Lisbon, Portugal
Political party	Liberal
Residence	Brossard, Quebec
Profession	Communications Officer

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 Mendés 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 Mendés'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, Mendés 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 Mendés 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]

Mendés 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]

Electoral record

2019 Canadian federal election: Brossard—Saint-Lambert
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	Liberal	Alexandra Mendès	30,537	53.9		–
	Bloc Québécois	Claire-Claude Diotte	11,131	19.6		–
	Conservative	Glenn Hoa	6,112	10.8		–
	New Democratic Party	Marc Audet	5,410	9.5		–
	Green Party	Gregory De Luca	2,935	5.2		–
	People's party	Sam Nassif	537	0.009
	Total			56,652
Total valid votes/Expense limit
Total rejected ballots				657	–
Turnout				57.309	–
Eligible voters				83,447
Source: Elections Canada

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[11][12]

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. http://www.ourcommons.ca/DocumentViewer/en/42-1/house/sitting-161/hansard
6. http://www.ourcommons.ca/DocumentViewer/en/42-1/house/sitting-164/hansard
7. "Alexandra Mendes, "Girl Guides of Canada" on March 9th, 2010 | openparliament.ca". openparliament.ca. Retrieved 2018-11-30.
8. https://www.ourcommons.ca/DocumentViewer/en/42-1/house/sitting-389/hansard#Int-10520370
9. https://globalnews.ca/video/5011162/dont-understand-whats-the-big-deal-liberal-mp-on-snc-lavalin-controversy
10. https://www.ourcommons.ca/speaker/en/presiding-officers/presiding-officer/3
11. Elections Canada – Confirmed candidates for Brossard—Saint-Lambert, 30 September 2015
12. Elections Canada – Preliminary Election Expenses Limits for Candidates Archived 2016-03-04 at the Wayback Machine

External links

• Alexandra Mendès – Parliament of Canada biography
• Official website