For the second time in the history of Quebec, the National Assembly, the People’s House, is presided over by a woman. And changes, Nathalie Roy seems ready to make.
Under her reign, we will see a drop-in daycare center appear in parliament, she confirmed in a long interview with The Canadian Press on the occasion of International Women’s Rights Day.
We will also talk about remuneration, parental leave and remote voting. The major reform project which had aborted under former President François Paradis is reborn with the arrival of Mrs. Roy.
“It will still be something major”, confides the one whose role will be to “facilitate” discussions between the parties, in order to modernize the National Assembly ideally this year.
“In 2012, what struck me was the Maison des Citoyens, […] and there was no nursery, no place for children, not even a place to change a diaper in the bathrooms.
“There, it’s coming,” she says with satisfaction, speaking of the drop-in daycare pilot project which will be located in the André-Laurendeau building and which will be able to accommodate ten children between 0 and 10 years old, including a maximum of four babies.
The opening is scheduled for September 2023, according to information gathered by The Canadian Press.
The National Assembly currently has a record number of women elected, 57 out of 125, but it is a fact that women are still reluctant to make the leap into politics, for all sorts of reasons.
“If we want to attract more women, we have to help them,” says Nathalie Roy bluntly. The truth is that it is often the mothers who have the household chores, who take care of the children when they are younger, etc.
“They don’t have the same biological functions. […] You have to take that into account. […] Women are not a minority. That’s half of humanity! she continues, saying she wants to help women “take their place”.
Parental leave and electronic voting
Since November, thanks to an amendment to the Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct, women MPs no longer risk being penalized if they are absent from parliament because they have just given birth to a child.
They continue to be paid during their absence; they are therefore not eligible for benefits under the Québec Parental Insurance Plan (QPIP), even if they have contributed to it.
However, it is difficult for a member to cease to perform her duties during her leave. Her responsibilities cannot be delegated and she must continue to ensure a certain presence in her constituency.
“Logically speaking, any woman who gives birth should be entitled to leave,” says Ms. Roy. At the City of Montreal, for example, the elected official is entitled to an 18-week leave and assistance to follow up on her files.
“If by chance the elected […] wish to have this type of leave or adaptations, I am here to see to what extent it may be possible according to the laws.
“I am open, my door is open, ready to resume and stimulate the deputies for their work,” she adds.
Ms. Roy wants to enhance the role of MP, use technology and possibly integrate remote voting into parliamentary procedure, which could attract more young people and women into politics.
“It can be a brake, the fact that you want to enter politics, but the children are at school and are you going to spend three or four days in Quebec, who will watch the children? Can we work remotely? she asks.
The political parties have also mandated the administration of the Assembly to set up an electronic voting system in the Blue Room by the fall of 2023 at the latest.
Condemned to excellence
Nathalie Roy has not always been approached for the presidency.
When her name started circulating last fall, many raised eyebrows, recalling how partisan the former culture minister had been.
However, as soon as she arrived, she impressed with her level of preparation, her sense of fairness and her pleasant tone. She says she is the kind of person “who thinks she has no room for error”.
“I was very nervous, because these are big shoes to put on,” says the lawyer and former journalist, speaking of the first woman to hold the position, Louise Harel, in 2002.
“It’s not just anybody. She is a woman with a long track record. In that regard, I said to myself, we have to do well. Madame Harel did well, I must do well.
” [L’humoriste] Martin Matte said jokingly “condemned to excellence”. It’s a bit like stepping into someone else’s shoes, but I’m going to do it my way. I am not Mrs. Harel. »
Her strengths: six years in the opposition and four years in the Council of Ministers, in addition to her training as a lawyer and her sense of justice, which push her, she says, to defend all the deputies equally.
She believes that Quebecers will discover her in another facet, that of a team player.
serve as a role model
The elected caquist of Montarville also says that she has been accosted many times since her arrival in office on November 29 by parents with their little girls impressed to see a woman on the throne.
” It touches me deeply. Since my election, […] people say to me: “Mme Roy, we heard you, […] my daughter said: Wow, you are an example for her.”
“Another person said to me, ‘You’re on the throne, it’s a woman on the throne!’ I was like, “My God, that hits them so good”. I didn’t realize that, the fact that it strikes the imagination of young girls.
“If I can use my gender to give confidence to young girls so that they can believe in their dreams and access important functions, I will have succeeded in my mandate. »
Moved, she adds: “I realize that the position I occupy influences young people, and I find that extraordinary. I’m impressed with that reaction. »