Following the controversy sparked by a Radio-Canada broadcast concerning the Parti Québécois’ (PQ) pro-birth stance, a PQ candidate has defended herself and sought to clarify her views on families. During a segment of the program “Tout peut arriver” broadcast on Saturday, philosophy professor Xavier Brouillette offered a “feminist-Marxist” analysis of the PQ’s pro-birth stance following the announcement of candidate Audrey Bujold, a mother of four and holder of a PhD in family sciences, in the riding of Bellefeuille. Last week, she suggested in an interview with The Canadian Press that she shared PQ leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon’s concerns regarding Quebec’s low birth rate and that she wanted to remove obstacles to encourage childbirth. “We must provide women with favourable conditions in which they will want to experience motherhood,” she said. In his column, Brouillette notably stated that “Paul St-Pierre Plamondon’s pro-birth policies, whatever justification he gives, are still a way of instrumentalizing women’s bodies from the nation’s perspective.” “These people may well want to have children, but behind that, what is really at work? What is going on? It is this idea that the immovable foundation of society, which makes the nation possible, is the family,” added Brouillette. ‘Moving beyond simplistic dichotomies’ Bujold decided to put pen to paper to contribute to the debate and clarify her positions. “We need to move beyond simplistic dichotomies in the discourse on birth rates to acknowledge a simple reality: many plans to have children are now hampered by contemporary constraints,” she wrote in a letter published in “Le Devoir” on Thursday morning. She notes that “the total fertility rate has hit an all-time low in Quebec, standing at 1.33 children per woman in 2024.” “By way of comparison, it peaked at 1.73 in 2008–2009 before resuming its downward trend,” said Bujold. The 31-year-old PQ candidate adds that she advocates a pro-family policy, rather than a pro-birth one. “A ‘pro-family’ policy, therefore, acts proactively and continuously. It creates an environment in which it becomes possible and viable to have children, if one so wishes. That said, such a policy can certainly include measures likely to encourage the birth rate, without these becoming a central indicator of success,” explains the PQ candidate in her letter. ‘Marxist ideologues’ The PQ leader also took to social media last Sunday to respond to Brouillette’s column, claiming that “Marxist ideologues” have “invaded Radio-Canada’s airwaves.” “Choosing to have children and dedicating oneself to one’s family is neither an expropriation of women’s bodies by capitalism, nor some obscure project allegedly orchestrated by ‘tradwives’. It is about giving oneself to another person’s life and loving them unconditionally,” he wrote on Facebook. He continued by listing reasons that may deter families from having children: “the housing crisis, the cost of living, the time that always seems to be in short supply in this day and age, the loss of confidence in the future, or the pressure to be perfect parents.” “But there is also the devaluation of the family by radical ideologies—which are, however, all too present in public discourse—that promote the dismantling of our society, particularly the dismantling of families,” he added. St-Pierre Plamondon has also previously stated that astronomical immigration thresholds contribute to the housing crisis and could therefore harm the birth rate. The debate on the birth rate is increasingly prominent on the Quebec political scene. During the CAQ leadership race, candidate Bernard Drainville proposed reimbursing up to three cycles of in vitro fertilization so that “the family might once again become a societal project.” Conservative leader Éric Duhaime stated that our “survival and fulfilment as a people depend in particular on a return to traditional, large families.” This report by The Canadian Press was first published in French on April 30, 2026.
