Ève-Mary Thaï Thi Lac (born February 6, 1972) is a Canadian politician. She was elected to the Canadian House of Commons on September 17, 2007, as the Bloc Québécois candidate in the Saint-Hyacinthe—Bagot by-election, defeating the Conservative candidate Bernard Barré.
Born in Vietnam, Thi Lac was adopted at age two by a Quebec family and grew up on a farm near Acton Vale. Prior to her election, she worked for her predecessor, Yvan Loubier, as an executive assistant in his constituency office.
She is the first Vietnamese Canadian ever elected to the Canadian House of Commons. She acknowledged that racism was a factor at the outset of her campaign, but stressed her local roots by joking that having grown up on a farm, she was the only candidate in the race who knew how to castrate a pig. She later credited her willingness to simply talk to people as her most effective strategy:
She was re-elected in the 2008 election. She was defeated in the 2011 election by Marie-Claude Morin of the New Democratic Party.
Electoral record
| Canadian federal election, 2008 |
|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ∆% |
|---|
| Bloc Québécois | Ève-Mary Thaï Thi Lac | 22,719 | 47.3% | +5.2 |
| Conservative | René Vincelette | 10,203 | 21.2% | -16.0 |
| New Democratic | Brigitte Sansoucy | 6,721 | 14.0% | +6.1 |
| Liberal | Denise Tremblay | 6,638 | 13.8% | +6.4 |
| Green | Jacques Tétreault | 1,771 | 3.7% | +0.0 |
| Total | 48,052 |
| By-election on September 17, 2007 |
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
|---|
| Bloc Québécois | Ève-Mary Thaï Thi Lac | 13,443 | 42.1% | -13.9 |
| Conservative | Bernard Barré | 11,965 | 37.5% | +12.7 |
| New Democratic | Brigitte Sansoucy | 2,538 | 7.9% | +2.4 |
| Liberal | Jean Caumartin | 2,379 | 7.4% | -2.4 |
| Green | Jacques Tétreault | 1,169 | 3.7% | -0.2 |
| Rhinoceros | Christian Willie Vanasse | 384 | 1.2% | |
| Canadian Action | Michel St-Onge | 61 | 0.19% | |
| Total | 31,949 |
