Ruba Ghazal

She has sat in Quebec's National Assembly for Mercier since 2018 and has been co-spokesperson of Québec solidaire since November 2024. She was the party's candidate for Premier of Quebec in the 5 October 2026 general election and won her own seat in Mercier.

Career

Ghazal was born on 6 December 1977 in Beirut, grew up in the United Arab Emirates until the age of 10, then moved to Quebec. She studied at HEC Montréal and the Université de Sherbrooke and worked as a chartered accountant. A member of Québec solidaire since its founding in 2006, she was first elected for Mercier in 2018, succeeding Amir Khadir, with 54.5% of the vote, and was re-elected in 2022 with 53.9%. In 2023 she lost the contest for female spokesperson by 49.7% to 50.3%, and in 2024 she won the post uncontested. According to Wikipedia, Québec solidaire won 9 seats on 5 October 2026 and she held Mercier.

Positions

Ghazal sits on the left of Quebec politics in Québec solidaire, which Wikipedia describes as a left-wing to far-left, democratic socialist and sovereigntist party. In the National Assembly she called for reversing the decline of French in Montreal and proposed a dedicated branch of the language office for the city. She opposed Canada's bid for a UN Security Council seat, citing Palestine, and in 2021 described Israeli actions against Palestinians as a humanitarian crime.

Summarised automatically from the linked sources. Wikipedia · Wikipedia · Wikipedia

Photo: QuebecSolidaireMercier, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons (cropped)