With one week to go until the by-election in the Quebec City riding of Louis-Hebert, candidates are making their final push to connect with voters.

For several candidates the campaign was quite short, since the initial Liberal and Coalition Avenir Quebec candidates both stepped down following Labour Day as the result of scandals involving their prior workplaces.

Current CAQ candidate Genevieve Guilbault, who was initially only planning to run for politics next year, stepped up to run in the riding where she lives.

However she said she believes her opponents are trying to use the fact she is six months' pregnant against her.

Guilbault, who is due to give birth on Jan. 1, 2018, said she has been hearing that supporters of her opponents have been telling voters that she couldn't do the job of an MNA properly since she will soon have a child.

She says she and her husband have already worked out what will happen should be win.

"I take the opportunity to reassure the citizens of Louis-Hebert, saying I will be here to work. My spouse and I decided together that we could do this. He will stay at home and I will go to work and we're really confident that everything is just going to work out fine," said Guilbault.

"My approach is more of a kind of positive message for women who want to go into politics. Everything is possible in 2017, so go and just do it."

The candidates for other major parties all denied using Guilbault's pregnancy against her.

In a statement, Liberal candidate Ihssane El Ghernati said "I am a mother of two children. When I was pregnant, it never stopped me from working so I have no problem with that and I respect that."

A spokesperson for Parti Quebecois candidate Normand Beauregard said he raises his hat to Guilbault for campaigning while pregnant, and called it a good example of work-life balance at a time when young women are being encouraged to get into politics.

Similarly, a spokesperson for Quebec Solidaire candidate Guillaume Boivin said their party would never see pregnancy as a problem, and shame on anyone who would say it's an issue.

Advanced voting has already started, and the by-election is next Monday.