He had been punished where he had sinned.
Posted at 5:00 a.m.
In 2012, Bernard Drainville received a poisoned gift: the post of minister responsible for democratic institutions. And, therefore, of the draft charter of secularism. After reflecting aloud on the death of his party and the urgency of doing politics differently, he is offered this perilous mission. The message: good luck, Bernard, we’re watching you…
This time, he inherits a tricky mandate for very different reasons. If François Legault appoints him to Education, his “priority”, it is because he trusts him. But judging by the tongues wagging already, this opinion is not shared by all. A few hours after his appointment, people in the education community were relaying controversial statements by the former radio host on student grading and ventilation.
I spoke to people who knew Mr. Drainville as well as others who knew his new position closely.
The first task that awaits him is to tame his ministry. He also recognized it himself on Thursday after his appointment: “It’s a big machine, you mustn’t get swallowed up. »
A certain uncertainty agitates the building of Complexe G, in Quebec, where the ministry is located. To understand this, one only has to compare the mandate of Mr. Drainville to that of Christian Dubé.
The Minister of Health tabled a reform plan in May which builds on the consensus of previous reports. This document, well received by the community, was then submitted to the population during the election campaign. The minister, a manager by trade, is ready to act.
In Education, it was in 2018 that the CAQ presented its major reforms such as 4-year-old kindergarten and the conversion of school boards into service centers. This time, even if Mr. Legault promised some concrete measures, they did not differ immensely from those of his opponents. And no one expects miracles. Because we know the problems better than the way to solve them…
It is in this context that Mr. Drainville arrives. In fact, he forms a trio.
He will be supported by a new deputy minister reputed to be effective, Carole Arav, who was previously at the Ministry of Labour. And his chief of staff is Robert Dupras. It’s a strong message. He has direct access to Mr. Legault. He has worked with him since the creation of the CAQ and he also advised him in the early 2000s to the Ministries of Education and Health.
But the arrival of new blood could worry this ministry known for its heaviness.
The biggest pitfall for Mr. Drainville would be to play Knowledgeable Joe, a source tells me. Before proposing solutions, you have to prove your mastery of the files. Otherwise, the machine could turn into a nuisance. For example, by taking all his time to write his reports or by leaking information to the media…
He must be methodical and rigorous. And skillful too. Because even if the senior civil service does not lie to its minister, it does not necessarily tell him the whole truth. It’s up to him to ask the right questions.
His experience as a minister will help him. But he will have to remain humble.
His predecessor Jean-François Roberge put the problems of ventilation and the shortage of teachers into perspective to avoid being criticized himself. Pride is a trap. But conversely, it is better not to embarrass his team unnecessarily. What is said in front of the cameras must first be shared internally. And the message should not change.
Mr. Drainville received a thick five-inch briefing book that he will start reading this weekend.
I see four areas: academic success and unequal opportunities, the shortage of labor and working conditions, the renovation and construction of schools, and finally the bureaucracy and centralization that remain.
Will he find himself in spite of himself at the heart of ideological quarrels? Less than its predecessors, I am told. We are no longer at the time of the debate on transversal skills. But there is a blind spot in the Ministry. Available statistics are underutilized and unnecessarily kept confidential. Exploiting them further would help identify effective methods.
Mr. Drainville promises to visit the schools and meet the staff. It is a necessity to document the problems and find unifying solutions. Other advice that comes up: beware of the bureaucracy of school service centers and do not worsen centralization yourself.
For every incident in a class, the opposition will blame him. The danger is wasting too much time managing this partisan game and reacting to it hotly. With remedies designed far from the field.
François Legault named someone who looks like him. Mr. Drainville also comes from a working class background. The eldest of a family of six children, he grew up on a dairy farm in La Visitation-de-l’Île-Dupas, near Berthierville. This village of 400 inhabitants consisted mainly of workers and farmers. With the exception of an uncle, Bernard will be the first in his family to go to university.
Several of his childhood friends do manual trades. In an interview with other media, he said he wanted to promote technical training more.
His three children attended both public and private school — the family moved often when the journalist father changed assignments.
One of his children was reportedly demotivated by the effects of the labor shortage. Her teacher changed three times in the same year, and struggling students took up much of her attention.
If this does not convince Mr. Drainville of the urgency of improving the working conditions of teachers, he can talk about it with his two sisters who practice this profession.
And if he gets offended by such injustices, that wouldn’t be bad. Nor surprising. Like the chief caquiste, Mr. Drainville is instinctive, emotional, hard-working and impatient. He doesn’t have a bad language either, for better or for worse. We remember his “Let go with the GES” in the election campaign to defend the third Quebec-Lévis link. His relatives argue that it was in the more partisan context of the election campaign.
When I was radioing with him at 98.5, I discovered his nervous energy. He underlined, annotated and crossed out his notes until the last minute. The doodle seemed incomprehensible. But behind this chaos, there is a method, assures one of his relatives. “In his head, Bernard always knows where he’s going. »
From now on, he rides on one of the heaviest government liners, carrying the hopes of parents and their offspring. In their case, it is without irony that they will say to him: “good luck”.