Her past as an Olympic medalist and world speed skating champion has limited her to the role of Quebec Minister responsible for Sports since 2018.
Prime Minister François Legault also entrusted him with the Status of Women during the first mandate. But the wave of feminicides convinced Ms. Charest to hand over control in this area despite her re-election in 2022.
At the same time, the responsibilities of Leisure and Outdoors were officially added to his title.
She has always reported to her fellow Minister of Education, first Jean-François Roberge, now Bernard Drainville.
Isabelle Charest would like to showcase her training as a nutritionist. (Jocelyn Riendeau/The Sun)
But when she looks to the future, she sees herself on the side of Health.
“I have a health component in my career. I am a nutritionist by training,” underlined the minister, during an end-of-year interview with The Sun.
“The whole prevention aspect [en] health, for me, is very interesting. It's part of the minister's vision [de la Santé, Christian] Dubé, to go down this path. For me, it would be a natural marriage,” said Ms. Charest, aware that “an economic label” is not attached to her.
The “plan” of the CAQ MP for Brome-Missisquoi, in Estrie, is to seek a third mandate in the next Quebec general elections, in 2026.
We can guess that the ultra-partisan atmosphere of electoral campaigns is not what she prefers in politics.
Let's say that after six years in the National Assembly, Ms. Charest learned the ropes of parliamentary competition.
Change hockey
How to conduct an interview with the Minister of Sports without talking about hockey.
His Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ) government plans to give hockey the official status of national sport at the beginning of 2025.
If the bill will be carried by her colleague in Culture, Mathieu Lacombe, Ms. Charest sees it as a form of “tribute to this sport” with which Quebecers maintain an “emotional, cultural and identity” link.
Even if organized participation in hockey is no longer what it used to be, no sport matches Quebecers' passion for hockey, according to the minister. (Jocelyn Riendeau/The Sun)
Minister Charest is pleased to have slowed the decline of recent years with a third consecutive annual increase planned in minor hockey registrations.
The fact remains that the number of federated hockey players in Quebec, around 87,000, has long been surpassed by the number of registered soccer players, almost double at 170,000.
Not to mention that the pre-COVID figures, more than 91,000 registered with Hockey Quebec in 2018-2019, have not yet been found.
She is delighted with the “evolution of mentalities” in major junior hockey, with, among other things, the almost abolition of fights in the Maritimes Quebec Junior Hockey League (QMJHL) since 2023.
According to league data, the number of suspensions for dangerous hits also continues to decrease and attendances to increase in all of its arenas.
The relationship between the minister and the commissioner of the QMJHL has also improved greatly since the replacement of Gilles Courteau by Mario Cecchini, precisely in 2023.
“For the first time I had the opportunity to speak with the team governors, which I had never had the opportunity to do before. It was a complete rejection.”
— Isabelle Charest, on the change of commissioner at the head of the QMJHL
“It’s certain that with Mr. Cecchini, there was perhaps a slightly more open dialogue,” says Ms. Charest, whose tense relationship with Mr. Courteau was public knowledge.
More refrigerated rinks
Even if 116 arenas have been built or renovated since the arrival of the minister in office in 2018, Ms. Charest is especially excited about the new refrigerated covered outdoor rinks.
Facilities that are more versatile and less expensive than real, fully equipped arenas.
“It’s my favorite infrastructure. It’s really the one that makes practicing sports the most accessible.”
— Isabelle Charest, on the increasingly numerous refrigerated covered outdoor rinks
Hockey and skating in the winter, pickleball, basketball or community market in the summer.
The minister also considers “a relevant choice” the decision of the mayor of Quebec, Bruno Marchand, to dip into his financial reserve dedicated to climate change to pay for these new type of outdoor ice rinks.
Since 2018, Isabelle Charest and the CAQ have invested more than $300 million in the construction and renovation of 116 arenas and 128 outdoor rinks. (Jocelyn Riendeau/The Sun)
Among her good moves for 2024, Minister Charest names the establishment of 408 free sports equipment loan points throughout Quebec.
And the upcoming appointment of a Protector of Integrity in Leisure and Sport, who will carry out much broader work by also affecting non-federated activities.
However, this person has still not been named, even though the bill was adopted last June. The Protector is due to take office in June 2025.
