Véronique Gagnon was teleworking as a press relations assistant for a museum in Quebec in October 2020 when she decided to send an electronic message to Éric Duhaime.
The host of a radio station in the national capital was then thinking of running as leader of the Conservative Party of Quebec (PCQ).
“I took my membership card, I wrote on the volunteer tab of the curators’ website to offer my services to communications, without specific expectations, without knowing who was going to receive my message, explains Ms.me Gagnon. Three weeks later, Mr. Duhaime himself called me to ask to meet me. We went for a walk just before the shops closed in December 2020. The mayonnaise took. »
The new leadership campaign team began meeting virtually in January 2021 and kept it that way for months in confined Quebec. “We worked remotely: Zoom, Zoom, Zoom”, sums up Mme Gagnon hiccuping the name of the video conferencing application.
“The first time we all met in real life, at the Château Laurier hotel in Quebec City, was April 17, 2021, the day Mr. Duhaime was elected leader by party members. We’ve only seen each other on screen for four months. »
Véronique Gagnon is now president of the PCQ’s communications commission. She explains that her service has retained many virtual contact habits acquired during the hard times of the pandemic.
We are all teleworking, says President Gagnon. Once in a while, when possible, I get on the bus. It feels good. We have a very small full-time team. We are like ducks, calm above the water, but very restless below.
To something misfortune is therefore good, even for a political formation reputed to be allergic to certain public measures adopted during the health crisis. The conservative platform announces that “never again such a liberticidal and authoritarian drift must occur in Quebec”.
“We are all telecommuting,” said President Gagnon. Once in a while, when possible, I get on the bus. It feels good. We have a very small full-time team. We are like ducks, calm above the water, but very restless below. »
Between 10% and 15% of the Conservative workforce ends up on the campaign bus with the leader. The rest of the team, ie the majority of the permanent staff, is dispersed throughout the territory. Mme Gagnon works from Limoilou, the campaign communications director is in Gatineau, the vice-presidents stay in their respective regions in Saguenay, Outaouais, Beauce and Montérégie. Zoom, Zoom, Zoom…
A revolution ?
The “digital strategy” is taking more and more space in the electoral campaign. The new communication tools are used to inform voters, contact the media, mobilize the troops, train volunteers, organize the telework of permanent employees, implement the tactics of the candidates and the overall strategy of the party. The logistic trunk filled to perfection during the pandemic crisis is overflowing with platforms and applications used on networked screens.
“Digital tools facilitate communications with all staff,” summarizes Jérémy Ghio, communications director for Liberal leader Dominique Anglade. The PLQ operates around two offices: one in Quebec, the other in Montreal.
Campaign President Carlos Leitão works from his home in Dorval. A meeting on the Teams application brings together the pivots of the party every morning at 6:30 a.m. and again at the end of the day to prepare the activities of the next day. “The exchanges continue all day at a frantic pace, often on the phone,” adds Mr. Ghio.
All the interviews for the article were conducted through this good old medium. The CAQ, on the other hand, emailed its refusal to talk a little about work and telework in the countryside. “The management of work organization is a matter of internal management,” wrote Sarah Bigras, of the party’s media relations team, laconically.
Camila Rodriguez-Cea, press officer for Québec solidaire (QS), was already part of the last campaign four years ago and she puts into perspective the impression of a generalized shift to virtual and digital. QS uses the means developed over the past two years, including Slack for collaborative work.
“Has work changed so much? she asks. Yes and no. The people on the tour bus keep making ground, of course. In our offices in Montreal, there is a limited place for telework, both to reach people who are far away and for certain employees to stay at home at certain times for family-work balance. But that’s more the exception than the rule. »
Human contact
François Leroux, director of communications for the Parti Québécois (PQ), also campaigned in 2018. He admits that the way of holding meetings has changed enormously since then, while also qualifying the impression of the shift from “everything to virtual “.
“We save precious time with the new communication tools,” he says. But we achieve the same goals. In fact, I don’t really see a difference in the result. […] I also think it’s exciting and electrifying to work together in person during the election campaign. »
Some good old means of work and propaganda therefore resist and persist. We can see it clearly with the placards posted on all the poles, the real real buses which do not run on the information highway towards old-fashioned rallies multiplied daily by the major formations in the running. The virtual is allied to the real, but does not replace it.
“There’s nothing like being on the ground,” said Jérémy Ghio, who gave the interview from the Liberal campaign bus en route to Montmagny for an activist rally. “For the leaders, for the candidates, the best way to connect with the citizens, it remains the contact in person. You can’t say you know the reality on the ground if you don’t put both feet on it. Making a Zoom call with people from Gaspésie is not the same thing as going there directly, to meeting Gaspésie residents. Human contact is fundamental. »