By Nick Fonda
Local Journalism Initiative
If there’s a candidate in the Richmond-Arthabaska riding who needs little introduction it’s Eric Lefebvre. Running under the Conservative banner in the April 28 federal election, he has already held public office at both the municipal and provincial level.
He was first elected in 2001 when, having just turned 30, he began the first of his two terms as a city councillor in his native Victoriaville. Then, at the end of 2016, he won a provincial byelection in the Arthabaska riding for the Coalition avenir Québec (CAQ), and two years later was named party whip. About a year ago, when he knew he would be running in the next federal election, he left the CAQ and the perks of a ministerial position (a significant boost in salary as well as a car and driver) to sit as an independent.
Athletically inclined, growing up he was particularly drawn to hockey and golf. As a Phys-Ed major, he might have been expected to become a high school Phys-Ed teacher, but Eric Lefebvre’s career path has been an unusual one.
“A lot of the people I graduated with did become gym teachers,” he says. “I know that quite a number of those have now moved into administrative positions. I think it’s because people with a background in sports education have a talent for bringing people together.”
“I might have gone into teaching,” he continues, “but a different opportunity came up. Fitness gyms were becoming very popular across Quebec in the mid-1990s and I got a job with Energie Cardio which had opened up a center here.”
Four years later, he opened a pub in Victoriaville, le Caméléon, and became involved with the city’s downtown merchants’ association. Two years later, he became a city councillor.
Although he’s an urbanite, Eric Lefebvre is not unfamiliar with farm life.
“Until the age of ten,” he says, “I lived on a farm. My father kept chickens and beef cattle, and also made maple syrup in the spring. It was a small operation, and really more of a hobby farm. My father was an entrepreneur and, at a certain point, his business interests made it impossible for him to give time to his animals.”
