Denyse Dion is 79 years old and says she will not get involved in this election, leaving that to her daughter and grand-daughter.

Emmanuel Marchand

She says she has seen many politicians come through her living room to meet her late husband but has never seen one who was happy. Dion’s husband, Léon Dion, was a renowned professor and an adviser to many Quebec politicians. He never ran for office himself.

Denyse Dion grew up in Paris and lived through the German occupation. She promised herself that politics would never enter her family. She admits, laughingly, that was like the promise of a drunkard!

Now she wants only to be the anonymous mother of a politician.

Dion doesn’t hide the disappointment she felt when her son announced he was getting into politics.

“He had an extraordinary career in teaching,” she says with a sigh. “But he is intelligent, and he loves his country. His father would be proud. They were very close.”

— Emmanuel Marchand