Quebec solidaire’s Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois to take parental leave

Quebec solidaire parliamentary leader Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois. (LA PRESSE CANADIENNE/Jacques Boissinot)

Québec solidaire parliamentary leader Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois announced on Monday that he is planning to take time off from December to March to welcome his second child.

In a message shared on social media, Nadeau-Dubois said that his wife was due to give birth to their second daughter in a few weeks.

He said he plans to be home from Dec. 2 until early March but could leave earlier, depending on the birth.

Nadeau-Dubois already has a daughter, Hélène, who was born in 2022.

At the time, he took a month off, and he says he regrets not spending more time at home with his young family.

He says the early days are precious moments for a family, but also “a challenge that's best experienced by two people, especially with two young children at home.”

Nadeau-Dubois says he plans to be on leave both at the National Assembly and in his constituency office.

The party’s female co-spokesperson, Ruba Ghazal, is slated to take over in Quebec City, while his colleague Alejandra Zaga Mendez will help in his office in the Montreal riding of Gouin.

“With Hélène, I realized that you can't do everything in life. We can't take care of others if we don't take care of our own,” he wrote. “You can't defend the values of gender equality and solidarity for Quebec if you don't first apply them in your own life. Before being a politician, I'm a father and a boyfriend.”

Though members of the National Assembly can take time off, they do not have access to regulated parental leave.

-- This report by The Canadian Press was first published in French on Nov. 4, 2024.