The Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ) may have found its best English spokesperson
anywhere in Noah Sidel, the ever so enthusiastic candidate in the April 7
election (the day he turns 33) for the riding of Notre-Dame-de-Grâce (NDG). Full disclosure: I have know Noah for some 15 years and seen his determination at every task he undertakes.
Sidel has
spent most of his life in NDG and is well known for his involvement in sports
and as a writer for local weekly newspapers. While his main opponent is
incumbent Liberal Member of the National Assembly Kathleen Weil, a former
provincial cabinet minister, Sidel truly believes he can score an upset.
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| Noah Sidel |
The CAQ is
headed by former Parti Québecois cabinet minister François Legault. He renounced sovereignty and created this new
party prior to the last election in 2012. The CAQ won 19 seats in the last vote and were the main reason why the PQ
only came into office with a minority government. While the polls are not being kind to them
this time around, Sidel said people should think otherwise when they head to
the ballot box.
“If we go
down, then you are looking at a majority PQ government,” said Sidel.
The holder
of a BA in journalism from Concordia University, Sidel has been working as
freelance journalist since 2004. From 2004 to 2010, he was also part of the Montreal Alouettes communications and marketing team managing the
team’s social media network and crafting the team’s digital marketing program. He currently serves as the vice president of operations
& marketing with National Dispatch Services, a bilingual Montreal-based,
family-owned maintenance specialization enterprise that employs a dozen people. Not only did he grow up in
NDG, but he owns a home there today with his wife Johanna Miller and their two
young children.
“Noah is a
young father who has had an impressive career to date,” commented Legault. “I
am certain he will contribute strongly to our mission of lowering the tax
burden on Quebec’s families. I wish him the best of success and I look forward
to working with Noah to re-launch the economy of Quebec.”
Sidel, a
card carrying member of the federal Liberals, said that he has been a card
carrying member of the CAQ for over two years. Last summer he sat down with the
party president and heard their call to reach out to the anglophone community. “I
knew right then that it was people like me, young anglo federalists, who needed
to step up,” he remarked. “I ended up having Mr. Legault over to my house. It
was a wonderful experience.”
At the time
Sidel’s daughter was two and his wife was pregnant (she gave birth two months
ago). “It did not seem to be the best timing for me to run,” he said. “Yet my
wife stepped up and told me, ‘you better do this. You can make a difference.’ I
could not have possibly asked for a more supportive wife.”
Sidel is
one of two Jewish CAQ candidates, with West Islander Valerie Assouline being
the other. “I think the Jewish community
can be confident to support the CAQ because we stand for stability. “It is time
we get away from the old Liberal-PQ situation. Our party is called a Coalition
for a reason because we represent everyone.”
On the controversial
Charter of Values, Sidel supports the CAQ position that the charter is
necessary, but that the PQ ban on wearing religious symbols, such as Islamic
veils, the kippa, religious turbans and large crucifixes, is “too
radical.” Sidel sees nothing wrong with a ban of religious symbols limited to
public sector personnel in positions of authority, namely judges, police and
prison officers and teachers. “Personally,” he says, “secularism is not
something I am comfortable with. The CAQ’s position is responsible."
