In this period of retrospectives and resolutions, I would like to humbly raise a glass to Quebec society which, in 2023 through the words of its elected officials, almost unanimously condemned Gérard Depardieu following his comments and actions reported in the documentary The fall of the ogre.
This almost unanimity in choosing to hear and believe the alleged victims, in affirming that the grandeur of notoriety should never constitute a bulwark against citizen irresponsibility; this firm stance makes Quebec shine.
And all the more so when, put in comparison, we note the social conservatism which is rampant in France, where all the most shaky intellectual acrobatics seem to be possible to avoid calling into question a social order which grants increasingly unjustifiable privileges. .
This episode adds to other social issues such as medical assistance in dying, marriage for all or the legalization of cannabis over which France is tearing itself apart while here progress has been adopted, most of time, at the end of peaceful and benevolent debates.
So I raise my glass to this gentleness, to this maturity that we seem to have in the face of the beginnings of societal introspection, to this openness to progress.
That said, the time for retrospectives is already behind us, it is now time for new resolutions and it is not because we celebrated our successes yesterday that we should not get back to work tomorrow. Even if we are top of the class in a subject, there is always room for improvement and this is also true in all other areas where we are not models (environment, governance, taxation, education, health).
So for 2024, I hope we can build on our achievements in order to continue the fight to build a true egalitarian society.