Longtime CFL player Steve Charbonneau to run for Conservative Party in federal election

Photo courtesy: Scott Grant/CFLPhotoArchive.com

Longtime CFL player and two-time Grey Cup champion Steve Charbonneau has agreed to run for the Conservative Party of Canada in the upcoming federal election.

The 51-year-old native of Cowansville, Que. will run in the Brome-Missisquoi district, which runs along the Canada-U.S. border and includes the towns of Cowansville, Magog, and Brome Lake.

The six-foot-four, 295-pound defender was originally a first-round pick of the Montreal Alouettes in the 1997 CFL Draft out of the University of New Hampshire. He played five seasons with the team before a five-year run with the Edmonton Football Team during which he won two Grey Cups. He signed back with the Alouettes in 2007, his final CFL season, but didn’t record any statistics.

Over 151 career regular-season games, Charbonneau recorded 228 defensive tackles, 36 special teams tackles, 28 sacks, nine fumble recoveries, and three forced fumbles. He was Edmonton’s nominee for Most Outstanding Canadian in 2003.

In 2021, Liberal candidate Pascale St-Onge narrowly won the Brome-Missisquoi district over Marilou Alarie of the Bloc Québécois by a count of 21,488 votes to 21,291 votes. The Conservative Party candidate, Vincent Duhamel, finished with 9,961 votes. The Conservative Party hasn’t won the Brome-Missisquoi district since 1988.

It remains unclear when Canada will hold a federal election, though one must be held no later than Oct. 20, 2025.