The MP for the Conservative Party of Quebec (PCQ), Claire Samson, bowed out on Thursday, deploring that her duties at the National Assembly had kept her less busy than her job, at the time, as a waitress in a restaurant. .
Mme Samson, the only representative of the PCQ in Parliament, has turned the page on eight years of active politics.
Returning to the period of the pandemic, during a press conference held with her leader, Éric Duhaime, the MP pointed out that the activities of elected backbenchers, like her, have slowed down.
“I’m talking about green plant MPs like me, it hasn’t worked hard for two years,” she said.
Her duties in her riding of Iberville occupied her, unlike parliamentary work, noted Mr.me Samson.
“Of all the jobs I’ve had, and I include when I was 17 and then I was a clerk at Miracle Mart, or when I was a waitress at Da Giovanni, the job as an MP here at the National Assembly is the job where I have worked the least in my life, ”she said transparently.
Over the past few months, Mr.me Samson nevertheless ensured his party’s presence in parliamentary proceedings. In particular, she participated in the selection process for the new director general of the Sûreté du Québec, whose name she had inadvertently revealed.
She and her boss also managed to participate in the budget lock-up, which, however, proved to be difficult for her.
Need for opposition
Claire Samson, herself a former CAQ member, accused her former party of muzzling her deputies. She worried about the prospect that the Coalition avenir Québec (CAQ) could win 100 of the 125 seats.
“I think it would be terrible and it won’t give them anything more. It will take a lot away from democracy and then from the citizens of Quebec. They will be able to do anything, then there will be no more questions that will be asked. »
Mme Samson, 67, was expelled from the CAQ in June 2021 after donating to the PCQ. On Thursday, she explained that she was proud of this decision.
“I joined [à] Éric because I have seen, in the last two years, in any case, especially the first year, how much the oppositions were weakened, ”she said.
Mme Samson said she must, however, confront her colleagues who criticize her for having provided the Conservative leader with visibility in the National Assembly that he would have been unable to have without her.
“Each time Eric announces candidates in [circonscriptions] then when I go back to the Blue Room, there are always people who look at me as if to say: “Look, that’s your fault.” So I didn’t make any friends, that’s quite obvious. »
Bowing out of the House, Mr.me Samson paid tribute to his companion dog, which helped him detect his epileptic seizures.
“He helped me the most when I first came here, and of course I’m talking about the late Pepper,” she said. And I thank the National Assembly for having welcomed it. »