On the eve of the start of the 43e legislature, The duty invited outgoing deputies to give some advice to recruits in order to help them not to get lost in the maze of the political world. Second handover, between Hélène David and Haroun Bouazzi.
The proposal of To have to came at a perfect time for Hélène David. “You take me at a time when I want to put this on paper […]. It’s been several weeks, even several months that I spend wondering what I went to do in this mess and, now that I’m out of it, what do I get out of it. »
The new MP Haroun Bouazzi has obvious esteem for the former MP for Marguerite-Bourgeoys. “I have immense respect for you. We had the chance to see each other in the parliamentary committee. I thought you were very, very classy politically speaking. »
COVID obliges, the meeting could not be done in person, but the conversation was no less rich, to the point where time ran out.
The former member for Marguerite-Bourgeoys first recounted the great discomfort that partisan life caused her, the greatest “shock” she experienced when she started out. “As soon as the party leader enters, you have to get up, you have to applaud, you have to shout, you have to be happy. And worse, you have to applaud for four and a half years without stopping. »
Unlike her sister Françoise, Hélène David came from a university background and had no militant experience. “When you’re a psychoanalyst and you’re at university, the golden rule of these two professions, I would say, is individualism, respect for autonomy, free-thinking. »
The new member for Maurice-Richard said that this component did not scare him too much. Activism, he knows. Involved in contesting the Ben Ali regime in Tunisia, then in anti-racist movements in Quebec, he also grew up in a family of highly politicized intellectuals.
He also arrives in Parliament without too much fear of the parliamentary press. As spokesperson for the Association of Muslims and Arabs for Secularism (AMAL), he had his share of close and delicate interviews.
“You are a member of your sister’s party!” »
Hélène David, she was walking on eggshells at the start. Especially when journalists discovered that the newly elected Liberal was a member of… Québec solidaire (QS). “I had given money to help with the election of my sister. […] It made me a de facto member of QS. So, first meeting with the journalists: “Madame David, you are a member of your sister’s party and you are in the Liberal Party!”, she says. It’s the kind of little things, tricks that you live with journalists. Maybe I should have checked that, but it’s hard to check things you don’t know. »
Haroun Bouazzi had his first contact with the National Assembly of Quebec as spokesperson for AMAL. “What really impressed me in your way of doing politics is your understanding of institutions. This is a question that is very close to my heart. […] The institution of the deputy, the institution of the ministry, of the prime minister, of the National Assembly. »
The new supportive MP therefore wanted to hear Mr.me David about what she had discovered that was positive in democratic institutions. She then spoke of “the immense satisfaction” she had had to raise questions in a parliamentary committee on Bill 21 on the secularism of the State in the face of Simon Jolin-Barrette.
Opposed to the bill, Hélène David was also very sensitive to the issues it raised. It was in response to the Charter of Values of the Parti Québécois that she decided to make the leap into politics.
Work with others
Our institutions are “mature” enough, she says, for the parties to be able to debate them in a respectful setting. Belonging to different political parties, “is not a reason not to listen to others, not to work with others”.
To be a politician is to believe in a certain number of things. And sometimes that’s not quite where your own party takes you.
Like Lise Thériault (who confided in the To have to Tuesday), Mme David seems to have had some of his finest parliamentary moments working with elected officials from other parties. Like when Manon Massé suggested a clever way to amend one of the articles of Bill 151 on sexual violence. “Being a politician means believing in a certain number of things. And sometimes that’s not quite where your own party takes you. »
Appointed Minister of Culture upon her arrival in Parliament, Ms.me David was subsequently appointed Minister of Higher Education. Mr. Bouazzi, for his part, will spend the next four years in the opposition.
But that won’t make the job any less useful or “rewarding,” she promises. “Regarding academic freedom, we completely modified the bill, from start to finish, with Danielle McCann. We passed all our amendments. […] “. We “have no idea” of all the work that is done within the framework of parliamentary committees, she underlines.