Former Quebec Liberal cabinet minister Marguerite Blais will run in the provincial election this year for the Coalition Avenir Québec.
Blais was a member of the legislature from 2007 until she stepped down in 2015 several months after her husband’s death.
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She was minister responsible for seniors between 2007 and 2012 in two Jean Charest governments but did not make cabinet under Philippe Couillard when he won the 2014 election.
Blais, 67, will seek election in the riding of Prevost, north of Montreal.
She said she will continue to defend the rights of the elderly as well as those of caregivers.
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Blais admitted she was approached first by Couillard to run again for the Liberals, but that she chose the Coalition because Leader François Legault agreed right away to her five proposals aimed at advancing the cause of caregivers and senior citizens.
One of them is the further development of special homes where caregivers for people who are ill are offered help in the form of various services.
Blais was also won over by Legault’s promise to implement “a real policy for caregivers.”