Quebec actress Anne Casabonne will be a candidate for the Conservative Party of Quebec (PCQ) in the upcoming provincial election.
Casabonne will run in Iberville, located in Quebec’s Monteregie region. The riding is currently represented by the Conservative Party’s only MNA Claire Samson, who is not seeking re-election.
“The riding of Iberville will not be left behind,” said Conservative leader Eric Duhaime while announcing Casabonne’s candidacy.
Casabonne previously ran for the Conservative Party in the recent Marie-Victorin by-election, where she received 10.41% of votes – a significant increase compared to the 0.75% received by the previous Conservative candidate.
Speaking to supporters, Casabonne said that “it’s an honour for me to defend the only riding that now belongs… to the Conservative Party.”
She added that she wants to continue Samson’s legacy – who Casabonne says was the only politician in the National Assembly that stood up for those who were deemed “non-essential” by the government during the pandemic.
Casabonne is well known in Quebec as an actress and comedian. She has appeared in multiple French movies and TV shows including Monica la mitraille, Les Maîtres du suspense, Unité 9, 30 vies, District 31 and La Galère.
She made headlines in Sept. 2021 after criticizing Covid-19 vaccines in a Facebook post which responded to Quebec Premier Francois Legault saying that he would not want to be approached by an unvaccinated nurse.
“We are using this vaccine to divide people, and a vaccine is not supposed to do that. It’s supposed to improve a situation,” said Casabonne in a subsequent video.
“I find that Quebec, at this time, is managed in such a way as to create a gap between the vaccinated and the non-vaccinated, and that makes me sad.”
Casabonne had also told Rebel News that she cancelled planned shows when Quebec imposed its vaccine passport because she “didn’t want to take part in this discrimination.”
The actress had received backlash from the legacy media for her comments, and was cancelled by Walmart, who disassociated themselves from Casabonne’s views and deleted their ads featuring her.
The PCQ has gained momentum in the last two years due to its opposition to heavy-handed mandates and restrictions imposed by the Legault government.
The party, which placed sixth in the 2018 provincial election with 1.46% of the votes, has since garnered more than 50,000 members, the most of any Quebec political party. The party has also recently placed second among all parties in some polls.
The Quebec general election is scheduled for Oct. 3.
