Jean Boulet conquers his stripes normally, without making waves. Indeed, nearly 60% of the Quebec population has neither a “good opinion” nor a “bad opinion” of the Minister of Labor and, recently, of Immigration, according to a survey carried out by the firm Léger. Where does this politician who seeks to “create coalitions” and “build consensus” come from and where is he going? A few answers.
Jean Boulet has changed a lot since he set foot in a car dealership in Drummondville in 1990 to negotiate a collective agreement. The grandson of the founder of the St-Tite Shoe Co., today Boulet inc. — manufacturer of men’s toilet shoes in the 1930s, of shoes and boots for members of the Armed Forces during the Second World War, then of Western boots —, was ready to do anything to have the last word with a union negotiator, even hit him a few times. “He had a confrontational attitude. Then, one time, he almost wanted us to go fight outside. Me, it didn’t bother me. I said to myself: Well yes, crisse, we’re going to go! says the lawyer specializing in labor law, almost four decades after graduating from the Bar School. “I liked it, bickering. »
But the young employer prosecutor emerged transformed from two study trips to Harvard University, where he was fascinated by alternative methods of conflict resolution. Principled Negotiation Manuals How to Successfully Negotiate and How to Negotiate with Difficult People: From Confrontation to Cooperation became his reference books. “It was like a revelation. There, I said to myself: we can negotiate with our intelligence, ”says the well-built man who conceals his age in an interview with The duty. “It changed me on a human level and on a professional level, enormously. [Aujourd’hui,] It helps me so much in politics! »
Jean Boulet — pronounced “boulé” and not “boulè” — put his law practice on hold with Lavery (2014-2018) to make the leap four years ago into the political arena alongside the Coalition avenir Quebec (CAQ); “a young party whose ideological ruts are not too deep”, he specifies. The native of Saint-Tite still does not know where “it’s going [le] lead”.
The day after the CAQ’s electoral victory, Prime Minister François Legault entrusted him with the command of the Ministry of Labour, Employment and Social Solidarity (MTESS). Union leaders immediately recalled the role of employer prosecutor he held a few months earlier in the long labor dispute at the aeronautical equipment manufacturer Delastek (2015-2018).
” [Comme ministre,] I see myself in the shoes of a facilitator, someone who accompanies the parties”, explains Jean Boulet to the Duty.
At the MTESS, he was called upon to put an end to the labor dispute at the Bécancour Smelter (ABI), then to those at the Exceldor and Olymel facilities, which paralyzed the slaughter of chickens and of pigs in Quebec. He says he underwent sometimes “terrible” popular and media pressure, to which was added that of “colleagues”, to force employees back to work using special laws. “I didn’t want to create a precedent,” he says, recalling that the “right to strike [est] constitutionally recognised”. “I also didn’t want to create an expectation in other private disputes, [qu’on se dise] that if we want it to be settled, it’s the minister [vers qui il faut se tourner] “, he continues. That said, Jean Boulet “dares to believe” that he played a decisive role in these labor disputes by reinforcing, among the parties, a “sense of urgency” to find a negotiated outcome.
[Comme ministre,] I see myself in the shoes of a facilitator, someone who accompanies the parties.
“Kind” and “Careful”
The member for Trois-Rivières is distinguished by a “kindness” and a “listening” that are not feigned or, at the very least, do not seem to be, indicate members of various parliamentary groups consulted by The duty.
His reform projects did not meet with unanimous approval, however — starting with the reform of the Occupational Health and Safety Regime. Despite the dozens of amendments he made to Bill 59, he was unable to rally either of the two opposition parties. Nevertheless, the Minister remains convinced that his reform will result in healthier and safer workplaces on the one hand; better support for workers who have suffered an employment injury, on the other hand.
The adoption of a law or the deployment of a strategy is not an end. There is “operationalization”, points out Jean Boulet. And if the expected effects are not there, the law or the strategy can be adapted. “It’s not static, it’s evolving,” he insists.
On the other hand, his update of the Quebec Parental Insurance Plan has received the approval of opposition elected officials… after he had made a few adjustments. The Minister of Labor responded to calls from PQ MNA Véronique Hivon to offer equivalent benefits to biological parents and adoptive parents, in Quebec and abroad. ” [Le ministre] is an example of openness and collaboration with the opposition. As soon as I raised these issues, he listened to me. We sat down together, we worked together, ”said Véronique Hivon before the adoption of Bill 51.
In the precincts of the National Assembly, Jean Boulet expresses his gratitude as much to the opposition deputies who harass him as to the journalists who assail him with questions. “I like the negotiation game, the discussions. Then I often say: I want to act as Quebecers would like [que j’agisse] if they looked at us continuously”, explains the elected official in an interview, who, moreover, gratifies with a diminutive several of the members of his close guard: Brigitte, “Bri”; Fanny, “Fan”; Maude, “My-Maude”…
No wonder he rose to number two on the list of Ministers Most Liked by MPs 2021 in The Press, behind the Minister of Health, Christian Dubé.
Suddenly, several elected opposition members could not believe that he had signed a tweet last December urging Ottawa to “close Roxham Road”, which is used by irregular migrants to cross from the United States to Canada, “so as not to overload our health care system”.
“It was not totally Jean Boulet,” argued the minister to the Duty, admitting that the “human quality” of his message was “not optimal”.
More responsibilities
During last fall, Jean Boulet badly concealed his ambitions to also take the reins of the Ministry of Immigration, Francisation and Integration (MIFI), political and administrative employees slipped into the ears of the Duty. “He also wants to be in the ‘kodak'”, mentions one of them. “But above all he wants things to move,” he adds. At the end of November, the Prime Minister asked him to succeed his colleague Nadine Girault, who is suffering from health problems, at the head of the MIFI.
The head of the MTESS and the MIFI, Jean Boulet, occupies a strategic place to overcome the labor crisis by focusing first on “essential”, “qualified” and “well-paid” positions.
Between now and the next election, the figurehead of the “workforce operation” will be busy pulling “as much as possible” upwards, not the number of immigrants admitted to Quebec as the employers’ organizations are crying out for, but the proportion of Francophone immigrants who, according to him, will choose to settle more permanently in the regions, where the need for workers is the most pressing. “That people come to Saint-Hyacinthe, Val-d’Or and Gaspé to work and respond in a practical way to the needs of our job market, that also goes through French,” argues the former President of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Trois-Rivières.
Mr. Boulet is careful to recall that the federal government must process more than 10,000 applications for permanent residence submitted in 2020 and 2021 by people who have been selected by the Quebec government, master the French language and are employed. “It has to unlock,” repeats the elected CAQ. “We will meet every three weeks or every month, he insists, referring to his federal counterpart, Sean Fraser. We distinguish ourselves in politics by the follow-up we do on our files. »
Over the next few months, he also intends to compete in skill to attract, all things considered, more French-speaking foreign students, seeing it as a “critical” measure to ensure the vitality of French. “We must avoid everything, any process of anglicization,” insists the minister responsible for the Mauricie region.
“Over the years, I have become, I am quite a nationalist,” remarks the former activist of the Liberal Party of Canada (PLC). During the “internal struggle” between Jean Chrétien and Paul Martin, he sided with the latter. The “intelligence”, “potential” and “ambition” of the Minister of Finance who aspired to become the “impressive” Prime Minister[aient] “.
At the PLC, Jean Boulet had befriended Pablo Rodriguez and Jean Lapierre, from whom he notably remembered that “it’s not just what we’ve done that’s important, it’s what we’re going to To do “.