Marquette

Alexandre Pendenza

Alexandre Pendenza is the Canadian Party of Quebec's candidate for Marquette. He studied political science and history at McGill and is now completing a Master's in Public Policy and Public Administration at Concordia University. Before his university-level education, he attended Loyola High School and CEGEP John Abbott in Liberal Arts. Alongside his studies, Alexandre also works as a blue collar in Dorval, serving the community and familiarizing himself with the day-to-day concerns of citizens. He was born to immigrant parents from Italy and Portugal, immigrants whose family chose to come to Quebec for a better life. He’s had the privilege of living in both Lachine and Dorval and has come to love both municipalities and the city of Montreal as a whole. Alexandre joined the Canadian Party of Quebec because he believes that the province has all the tools it needs to not only be successful but also become the undisputed leader amongst the Canadian provinces. Quebec has world-class universities, abundant clean energy, a strategic position on continental trade routes, and a workforce whose talent is matched by few jurisdictions on this continent. What it has lacked is a government willing to build on those advantages rather than spending its political capital relitigating questions that were settled decades ago. Alexandre also believes that constitutional rights are not obstacles to good governance but its precondition. A government that must suspend the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms to enact its agenda should reconsider the agenda. The routine use of the notwithstanding clause has become a substitute for the harder work of building policy that can withstand scrutiny, and Quebecers have paid for that shortcut in both rights and results. Above all, Alexandre believes politics should be about competence. The people of Marquette are contending with the cost of living, the state of healthcare, aging infrastructure, and public services that too often fall short of what their taxes should buy. These are solvable problems. They have gone unsolved because governments have found identity politics more useful than governance. Alexandre is running to change that, and he is asking the residents of Lachine, Dorval, and the rest of Marquette for the chance to prove that a different kind of politics is possible.