Ruth Ellen Brosseau (born April 26, 1984) is a Canadian politician who represented the riding of Berthier—Maskinongé in the House of Commons from the 2011 federal election until her defeat in 2019.
[13] Brosseau first ran for a seat in the House of Commons of Canada in the 2011 federal election, as the New Democratic Party candidate in the electoral district of Berthier—Maskinongé in central Quebec.
[16] The vegetarian Brosseau knew nothing about politics or the riding, with many pork and beef farmers, and a travel time of three-and-one-half hours away from her Ottawa home by car.
[18] The media mocked her as a "Vegas girl",[16] but NDP leader Jack Layton defended Brosseau's decision to vacation, pinning the blame on Stephen Harper not keeping his promise on fixed election dates.
[19] An op-ed in the National Post criticized Brosseau's inexperience, writing that she is "an extreme example of what happens when people sign up to run for a party with little or no expectation of actually winning".
[23] At a press conference held the day after Brosseau's election, Tom Mulcair, then the NDP co-deputy leader and Quebec lieutenant, addressed her language issues.
"[24] Two days after the election, allegations were made by both the defeated Liberal and Conservative candidates about irregularities on Brosseau's nomination papers, which the other parties had chosen not to vet because of low expectations of her winning.
[25] In response to the allegations, the NDP released a statement, stating that "All signatures were collected legitimately, the documents were tabled with Elections Canada and they were approved by the Returning Officer.
"[27][28] Immediately following her election, Brosseau began working with Kathleen Monk, the NDP's director of communication in 2011, to tackle some of the challenges she faced as a new MP.
[33] Brosseau championed local causes important to her riding such as high repair costs to fix defective home foundations built with pyrrhotite mixed in with concrete,[34] an issue that she brought up 70 times in the 41st Parliament.
Speaking with Mark Kennedy of the Ottawa Citizen, Brosseau spoke about the difficulties she faced during her first years as an MP, but noted, "It took a while to kind of get my feet planted, set up an office, learn what the job was.
The situation arose after Trudeau was attempting to lead Conservative Whip Gord Brown to his seat so a scheduled vote could take place.
[36][37] Leading up to the incident dubbed "Elbowgate", the Opposition parties had accused the government trying to ram Bill C-14 through the House and Senate, using various strategies like assigning a time limit to debate and giving enormous powers to ministers.
[38][39] The following day, Brosseau said she had become a target of personal attacks, saying that her office received a number of phone calls from members of the public criticising her over the incident.
[44] In the October 21, 2019 general election, the NDP lost all their remaining seats in Quebec except Rosemont—La Petite-Patrie, represented by party regional lieutenant Alexandre Boulerice.
La Candidate, a television series inspired in part by Brosseau's experience, was announced as going into production in 2022 with Catherine Chabot in the lead role.