Alain Rayes

Alain Rayes MP
Chair of the Quebec Caucus of the Conservative Party of Canada
Incumbent
Assumed office June 2017
Leader	Andrew Scheer
Preceded by	Denis Lebel
Member of Parliament for Richmond—Arthabaska
Incumbent
Assumed office October 19, 2015
Preceded by	André Bellavance
Mayor of Victoriaville
In office November 9, 2009 – October 21, 2015
Preceded by	Roger Richard
Succeeded by	Christian Lettre (interim)
Personal details
Born	(1971-12-11) December 11, 1971 Victoriaville, Quebec
Political party	Conservative (Federal) CAQ (Provincial)
Other political affiliations	ADQ (2003–2012)

Alain Rayes MP (born December 11, 1971) is a Canadian politician, who was elected to represent the riding of Richmond—Arthabaska in the House of Commons of Canada in the Canadian federal election, 2015. Rayes also served as the mayor of Victoriaville.

Biography

Alain Rayes is a native of Victoriaville, He is the eldest of four children of a family originally from Egypt. From a young age, he began to get involved in his community, including as soccer coach at AAA and taking the reins of Victoriaville soccer tournament that grew to a prominent position among the three largest tournaments in Quebec. Academically, he earned a bachelor of mathematics teaching and computer and picks later a Masters in Educational Administration. He began his career as a teacher before obtaining management positions, including Director of the Polyvalente Le Boise Victoriaville. He made his first jump into politics as a candidate for the ADQ alongside Mario Dumont in 2003. His passion for politics and community service took him to the town of Victoriaville in 2009. After six years as mayor, he decided to enter federal politics and was elected in October 2015 as the member for Richmond-Arthabaska under the banner of the Conservative party. Everyone knows, Alain Rayes is also very active on social networks like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Accessibility and relevance have ensured that the national media have quickly recognized as a benchmark for working on different issues. His sense of depth communication and knowledge have allowed him to become known throughout Quebec.

Municipal achievements

During his two terms as mayor, Rayes was the conductor of a recapitalization and an unprecedented improvement of infrastructure in the municipality. For this, he was able to gather important partners from all circles. As business people, that the federal and provincial governments, as well as the Bois-Francs School Board and the Cégep de Victoriaville joined him to allow the construction of several new infrastructures that helped propel the city to a higher level. These achievements include the construction of the cultural venue "Le Carré 150" Pool Édouard-Dubord, of Yvon-Paré Stadium, Gateway Beaudet reservoir, the park's entertainment site at the youth baseball place of Victoriaville Stadium, Sani-Marc sports Complex and the sport Complex Promutuel. These projects were designed to meet the needs of the population, but also that Victoriaville stands and to be attractive to the workforce. Responsible politician, Alain Rayes did not neglect then investment in upgrading of municipal infrastructures such as roads, sewers, aqueducts, and parks by investing record amounts, and without increasing the debt nor the citizens' taxes. As mayor, Alain Rayes was not content to be active at the level of the municipality only. He invested the Union of Quebec Municipalities and it did not have to wait long before being appointed as second vice president of the organization and as chairman of the Caucus regional cities of the UMQ. These appointments reflect his desire to be an agent of change nationwide. In addition to contributing to radiate Victoriaville, these implications have allowed him to directly influence the development of municipalities in Quebec.

Federal politics

Upon his election as MP, Alain Rayes was noted for his dynamism. Soon, he was entrusted with important responsibilities in the Party when he was appointed deputy spokesman for Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness. Within this portfolio, Rayes will be in charge of the marijuana legalization issue and conduct several interviews and interventions room about it. His public interventions will also be on the issue of electoral reform as he is identified with Gérard Deltell, among the official spokesmen of the party on this issue. Then in July 2016, the interim leader of the Conservative Party put him in charge of deputy spokesman for Foreign Affairs before becoming spokesman partner on infrastructure, communities and Urban Affairs in September and entering the shadow cabinet soon its first year. In this capacity, he has especially defended infrastructure investments in areas where the needs are great.

Electoral record

Federal

2015 Canadian federal election: Richmond—Arthabaska
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	Conservative	Alain Rayes	18,505	31.6	+6.9	–
	Liberal	Marc Desmarais	14,463	24.7	+17.7	–
	New Democratic	Myriam Beaulieu	14,213	24.2	-8.3	–
	Bloc Québécois	Olivier Nolin	10,068	17.2	-16.6	–
	Green	Laurier Busque	984	1.7	-0.4	–
	Rhinoceros	Antoine Dubois	384	0.7	–	–
Total valid votes/Expense limit			–	100.0		$223,651.10
Total rejected ballots			–	–	–
Turnout			–	–	–
Eligible voters			85,118
Source: Elections Canada

Provincial

2003 Quebec general election: Arthabaska
Party	Candidate	Votes	%
	Liberal	Claude Bachand	12,663	36.77
	Action démocratique	Alain Rayes	11,389	33.07
	Parti Québécois	Danièle Caron	9,657	28.04
	Green	François Houle	379	1.10
	Bloc Pot	Karine Cyr	353	1.02
Total valid votes			34,441	99.15
Total rejected ballots			269	0.85
Turnout			34,737	73.58
Electors on the lists			47,185	–

Municipal

2013	Vote	%
Alain Rayes (X)	Acclaimed

2009	Vote	%
Alain Rayes	10,807	62.8
Éric Lefebvre	5,722	33.2
Martin Talbot	524	3.0
René Martineau	161	0.9

External links

• Official website - Alain Rayes MP