In the mid-1990s, I was sitting with Réjean Parent in a restaurant on Parc Avenue in Montreal. I no longer remember the precise purpose of this meeting (support for The other newspaperperhaps), but the discussion quickly turned to the new challenges posed by the merger of school boards that the government had just carried out. On the South Shore, Réjean Parent and his colleagues were working to bring together the new union entities within a single organization, the Champlain Union.
Réjean spoke to me about the need to professionalize union communications and to set up publications that would reflect the uniqueness of each union section, but also lead to membership and identification with the new entity. I enthusiastically accepted this challenge when he proposed it to me.
Over the years, I have been able to appreciate Réjean’s talents as a visionary, leader and unifier as president of the Champlain Union. He knew how to listen in order to “make up his mind”—as he said—and when he was convinced, he knew how to be convincing. He never refused to debate with people who had a different opinion, as Jean-François Roberge, who was a teacher and member of the union before becoming Minister of Education, could attest.
As president of the Centrale des syndicats du Québec (CSQ), he was the initiator in 2005 of the Secrétariat intersyndical des services publics (SISP), which brought together the 270,000 members of the CSQ, the SFPQ and the APTS. The SISP was part of the Common Front of 2015 as an entity. Unfortunately, he was unable to perpetuate the organization with permanent structures.
A common vision
Over the course of our countless discussions, Réjean and I have developed a common vision of political action. First, on the objective, the independence of Quebec. Then, on the need to strengthen the left flank of the great pro-independence coalition to hope for victory.
As we recently recalled in a telephone conversation, we had identified three essential means to do this: a newspaper, a left-wing research centre, and a progressive wing within the Parti Québécois (PQ).
The possibility of a research centre arose with the creation of the UQAM Chair in Socio-Economic Studies. For two years, part-time, I supported the incumbent as general director. Réjean was a member of the board of directors and worked to recruit donors.
On the political front, his support for the creation of Syndicalistes et progressistes pour un Québec libre (SPQ Libre), a political club within the Parti Québécois, was decisive. It was during a meeting with Bernard Landry and Dr. Denis Lazure that the PQ leader gave his approval. The union endorsement that Réjean brought tipped the balance. Once again, the boots followed the lips.
As for The other newspaperhe has always benefited from his unwavering support. But there is more. Réjean gradually discovered a passion for writing political positions, first through his editorials in The Champlainthe union newspaper, then on his blog as president of the CSQ.
His terms at the CSQ ended, he inherited a bi-weekly column in THE Montreal Journal And THE Quebec Journal. He held on to it like the apple of his eye. No question of skipping a column, even when sick, even when hospitalized, even when bedridden.
Since his lung transplant, his wife, Pauline, has kept us, his circle of friends, regularly informed — 106 messages over the last four years — of the ups and downs of his health.
Over the past six months, with his readmission to the CHUM, it has been a real roller coaster. But while we were despairing of his condition, we woke up — to our great surprise — on Wednesdays and Saturdays with Réjean’s column in THE Newspaper !
To match a well-equipped right wing, the left winger had to be on the ice, rain or shine. As proof, his last column appeared on July 10 and he died a week later, on July 17.
My dear Réjean, you can rest in peace. We will ensure that there is a replacement on the left flank with the same commitment to social justice and love of Quebec that you had.