Career
She is currently the Deputy Premier of Quebec and Minister for the Status of Women in the Couillard government. She was elected in Anjou in a by-election in 2002 and re-elected in 2003. She was named the Minister of Immigration and Cultural Communities from 2005 to 2007 and was re-elected in the 2007 elections.
Jean Charest did not reappoint her to cabinet in 2007, and Yolande James succeeded her to become the first ever Black cabinet minister in Quebec.
After the 2008 elections, she was named the delegate Minister for Social Services until 2010 where she replaced Sam Hamad as Minister of Labor. Following the 2014 election, she was named Deputy Premier of Quebec and the first woman to become Minister of Public Security in the history of Quebec.
In 2016, she was re-assigned to the Status of Women portfolio but remained deputy premier. Change is from redistributed results.
CAQ change is from ADQ.