Francine Raynault is a Canadian

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

 politician, who was elected to the Canadian House of Commons

Canadian House of Commons

The House of Commons of Canada is a component of the Parliament of Canada, along with the Sovereign and the Senate. The House of Commons is a democratically elected body, consisting of 308 members known as Members of Parliament...

 in the 2011 Canadian federal election. She represents the electoral district of Joliette

Joliette (electoral district)

Joliette is a federal electoral district in Quebec, Canada, that has been represented in the Canadian House of Commons from 1867 to 1935 and since 1968.-Geography:...

 as a member of the New Democratic Party

New Democratic Party

The New Democratic Party , commonly referred to as the NDP, is a federal social-democratic political party in Canada. The interim leader of the NDP is Nycole Turmel who was appointed to the position due to the illness of Jack Layton, who died on August 22, 2011. The provincial wings of the NDP in...

.

Francine first ran for the riding of Joliette in 2008 where she lost by a massive margin of 22,462 votes to Bloc Québécois

Bloc Québécois

The Bloc Québécois is a federal political party in Canada devoted to the protection of Quebec's interests in the House of Commons of Canada, and the promotion of Quebec sovereignty. The Bloc was originally a party made of Quebec nationalists who defected from the federal Progressive Conservative...

 incumbent, Pierre Paquette

Pierre Paquette

Pierre A. Paquette is a Canadian politician.An economist, professor and former union leader, Paquette was first elected to the Canadian House of Commons as a member of the Bloc Québécois in the Canadian federal election, 2000 in the riding of Joliette...

. During the campaign for the 2011 election, Raynault gained the edge over Pierre Paquette as part of a provincewide surge in support for the New Democratic Party, winning by 8,147 votes on election day.

Francine studied commerce in Montreal, business management in Joliette and business law at the Université du Québec à Montréal. She is a mother of four and grandmother of nine grandchildren.

Since 1977 she has been a member of the Association féminine d’éducation et d’action sociale, was president of the AFEAS in the Lanaudière region from 1997 to 2001, member of the provincial executive from 2001 to 2007 and provincial second vice-president and first vice-president.

Francine is a founding member of the Syndicat des agricultrices de Lanaudière. She is a founding member of the Union des producteurs agricoles, Nouvelle-Acadie local section. From 2003 to 2007, Francine sat on the Executive Committee of the Centre local de développement de Joliette.

She is the great-niece of Adhémar Raynault, mayor of Montréal (1936-1938, 1940-1944) and member of the National Assembly of Québec (1936-1939).

Election results

|align="left" colspan=2|Bloc Québécois

Bloc Québécois

The Bloc Québécois is a federal political party in Canada devoted to the protection of Quebec's interests in the House of Commons of Canada, and the promotion of Quebec sovereignty. The Bloc was originally a party made of Quebec nationalists who defected from the federal Progressive Conservative...

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