Régine Laurent left the set of Hello everybody. The PM Podcast the smile on the lips.
“Who would have refused time with the Prime Minister to discuss everything? “She launched after a head-to-head of nearly 25 minutes with François Legault.
The head of government had invited the nurse, who had also administered her second dose of the vaccine against COVID-19, in June 2021, to accompany her in her first steps in the world of podcasting.
The host does not waste a second. He asks the former president of the Fédération interprofessionnelle de la santé du Québec to share with him — away from the negotiating tables on the working conditions of public sector employees — not only her impressions, but also a solution to the “lack of nurses, especially on certain shifts”, in the health network.
Régine Laurent recommends to the Prime Minister that the work schedules of health professionals be developed in each “establishment”, even in each “care unit”.
“I think you’re right: you have to go unit by unit,” replies Mr. Legault, seated in a black leather armchair. “It obviously requires flexibility in collective agreements,” he continues, before being politely called to order by his guest. Régine Laurent asks him to prefer the term “development” to that of “flexibility”. He nods.
COVID and exhaustion
How to attract staff in the evening, at night or on weekends? adds François Legault, while holding his microphone with a firm hand. “Perhaps there should be more financial incentives, bonuses…? he suggests. The wire of the microphone goes down along his jacket to get lost in the decor. ” Time off ! People need time”, interrupts Régine Laurent, before insisting on the need to “improve the premiums […] in place” in addition to granting “bonuses” and “holidays” to professionals ready to work a few evenings or a few nights, for example.
The COVID-19 pandemic has “exhausted the staff a bit”, underlines the Prime Minister aloud in the Montreal press conference room of the Quebec government, which has been refurbished for the occasion. “A little, you say? retorts Régine Laurent. ” A lot a lot ! » regroups François Legault.
The former union chief offers to the head of government to allow caregivers to park their vehicles as close as possible to their place of work and to get their hands on a hot meal in the evening and at night. François Legault does not say no.
Régine Laurent takes advantage of her interview, which can be heard on BaladoQuébec and watched on YouTube, to thank François Legault for entrusting her with the presidency of the Special Commission on Children’s Rights and Youth Protection, launched in the process. of the kidnapping and murder of a seven-year-old child in Granby in the spring of 2019. “It was an extraordinary human experience. But you made me suffer too, because listening to certain testimonies, I must not think about it, not even today, ”she confides.
“The love of Quebec culture”
“There are so many subjects that I want to talk about,” continues François Legault, seeing the time slip away.
He asks Régine Laurent to state her views on ways to ensure the vitality of the French language in Quebec. “Obviously, it’s tricky to talk about it, but Quebecers are having fewer children, then, well, it’s a social choice. But what that means is that knowledge of French among newcomers becomes a key to the future of French,” he says.
Faced with the surge of English-language content on streaming platforms — which the two refrain from naming — Régine Laurent invites the government to nurture “love for Quebec culture”, its poets, its singers, with young Quebecers.
François Legault closes the conversation by asking the first guest of his podcast to reveal the title of the last novel she read.
Mapleby David Goudreault (Stanke, 2022), she says, while specifying that “it is not a small novel”.
Indeed, the “work of fiction overflows with violence, explicit references to racism, multiculturalism, homophobia, claustrophobia, hard drugs, misandry, misogyny, sexual exploitation, homicides, feminicides and suicide “, can we read in the trauma warning printed in the first pages of the thriller.
“He has a way of writing a little punchy. […] There are very funny turns of phrase, but it’s very hard, what we have in Maple sums up the Prime Minister.
Prime Minister Podcast
“It was fascinating, this exchange”, he concludes, determined to record other episodes.
The Ministry of the Executive Council has procured equipment for a total of nearly $20,000 to make the Prime Minister’s podcast possible, indicates the director of media relations and digital communications at the Prime Minister’s Office, Manuel Dionne.
He says he easily convinced his boss to “join” podcast enthusiasts, who sometimes stay away from traditional media and social networks frequented by the “PM”, namely Twitter, Facebook… and TikTok, where he suspended his activities. until further notice. ” [La baladodiffusion]it’s a way of consuming information that is likely to grow,” he points out.
“Personalities from various backgrounds” will parade every two or three weeks in the studio of the head of government, indicates Manuel Dionne, who is careful, however, not to list them at the Duty. One thing is certain, the guests “fed[ront] reflection” on various issues of our time, he promises.