 She was elected to the House of Commons of Canada on September 17, 2007, as the Bloc Québécois candidate in the Saint-Hyacinthe—Bagot by-election, defeating the Conservative candidate Bernard Barré.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