DRUMMONDVILLE | François Legault will kick off his pre-election campaign today by surrounding himself, before the closing of the CAQ convention in Drummondville, with several newcomers to his team, including the CEO of the CIUSSS du Centre-Sud- de-l'Île-de-Montréal, Sonia Bélanger, who will be a candidate in Prévost, learned Le Journal.
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Ms. Bélanger will try to keep, in the bosom of the Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ), the seat of the current Minister responsible for Seniors, Marguerite Blais, who has decided not to run again.
The health manager, who is retiring from the network this week, has mainly worked in the borough of Verdun, in Montreal. However, she lives in the county of Prévost, in the Laurentians.
Ms. Bélanger has enjoyed some visibility during the pandemic, including during press briefings with Montreal's regional director of public health, Dr. Mylène Drouin.
According to our sources, the CAQ establishment is happy to have convinced Ms. Bélanger to take the leap.
It seems that the interest was mutual from the first discussions. The chemistry with François Legault, who met her for an hour, was immediate, we were told. The two will meet the parliamentary press at the end of the convention of the Coalition Avenir Québec.
high level manager
Ironically, Ms. Bélanger recently received the National Assembly medal from the hands of the Liberal MP for Verdun, Isabelle Melançon, during an evening show with a partisan flavor, which featured Gregory Charles.
Ms. Bélanger, who was then accompanied by the president of the board of directors of the Integrated university health and social services center (CIUSSS) of the Centre-Sud-de-l'Île-de-Montréal, Micheline Ulrich, had accepted the medal. on behalf of the employees of the Verdun Hospital, as a thank you for their efforts during the pandemic.
In particular, Ms. Bélanger led the merger of the various organizations that led to the creation of the CIUSSS du Centre-Sud-de-l'Île-de-Montréal, in addition to having worked on the expansion of the Verdun Hospital. (a project of more than $200 million), whose area will be doubled once the work is completed.
