Quebec is pulling out the checkbook to offer more psychological support to municipal elected officials, more and more of whom are throwing in the towel due to incivility suffered in the course of their duties.
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While in Rivière-du-Loup, Minister of Municipal Affairs Andrée Laforest announced an enhancement to the Action Plan to promote respect and civility launched in October 2021.
A sum of $2 million will be paid to the two large associations of municipal elected officials, the Fédération québécoise des communes (FQM) and the Union of Municipalities of Quebec (UMQ), who will ensure that they offer first-rate psychological assistance services. line to municipal elected officials as well as members of their families.
During the last municipal elections, in 2021, nearly 8,000 mayors and municipal councilors were elected, across more than 1,100 municipalities in Quebec. Since then, nearly 750 of them have resigned.
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Human consequences
“We unfortunately see that a growing number of elected officials are choosing to withdraw before the end of their mandate because they are no longer able to deal with the incivility experienced and situations of gratuitous intimidation and harassment,” he said. lamented Minister Laforest.
“Worrying behavior directed towards elected officials has significant consequences on the people behind the office and on their families. For our government, it is a priority not only to act in prevention, but also to offer support when such situations arise,” she added.
The minister also expressed the wish to modify the law in order to make training compulsory for municipal elected officials following the next municipal elections.
“To take care of your world, you must also be able to take care of yourself. This psychological support service will therefore make it possible to respond to an important need, at a time when collective reflection must begin in Quebec on the system in which municipal politics is currently exercised, with the aim of promoting and promoting commitment. », underlined Julie Bourdon, treasurer of the UMQ and mayor of Granby.
“With the establishment, by the FQM, of a front-line psychological assistance service, as we find in several companies, we will be able to concretely contribute to resolving certain conflicts and support those who need it,” indicated Jacques Demers, president of the FQM, mayor of Sainte-Catherine-de-Hatley and prefect of the MRC of Memphrémagog.
Mixed reactions
The mayor of Montreal, Valérie Plante, welcomed the “good news” announced by Ms. Laforest, adding that municipal elected officials, “everywhere in Quebec, are faced with increasingly important challenges and crises in the exercise of their functions”. “Supporting them is supporting democracy,” she added.
In a press release, eight councilors from different municipalities, including Alicia Despins (Québec), Jasmine Sharma (Vaudreuil-Dorion), Pascale Albernhe-Lahaie (Trois-Rivières) and Sylvain Pillenière (Lotbinière), indicated that they This is a first step, but it is still far from sufficient.