On the eve of the next June 24 and the reception of the Artisan 2024 prize, which was awarded to me following my departure, I want to share some lessons learned, as a volunteer member of the board of directors of the Comité de la national holiday in Montreal, over the last eight years (2016-2023), including five years as president. This committee (NPO), on the initiative of the Société Saint-Jean-Baptiste de Montréal, is responsible for the gathering and the major show broadcast by Radio-Canada and TVA as well as the historical parade. I consider it my responsibility to raise public awareness of the precariousness in which the national holiday takes place in Montreal.
The treatment granted by successive governments has often been haphazard and subject to the vagaries inherent in changes of government or episodic changes in the various ministerial positions called upon to decide on the sums allocated. For example, in 2014, a few weeks before the holiday, the government canceled the increased funding provided by the previous government.
Over the last twenty years, the party in Montreal has sometimes experienced dizzying declines, periods of great austerity and sometimes some clearings. This was the fortunate, but brief, case with Minister Sébastien Proulx, and recently, with Minister Mathieu Lacombe, to whom we owe a substantial increase in his ministry’s contribution. However, this increased contribution still constitutes only half of the budget necessary for the creation of a large festive gathering, a televised show and a parade, in a cosmopolitan metropolis which nevertheless really needs these demonstrations of belonging. national.
I understand, following recent statements by Minister Lacombe, that substantial sums would be allocated, in the near future, to various events of national scope. I am delighted about it, but my point is that we must consolidate and secure the sustainability of the national holiday budget, in particular by including it as a specific and visible budget item in the annual budget statement of the Minister of Finance.
This measure would save an incessant quest, with an uncertain outcome, from various ministries and state companies, one of which, for example, has just announced its withdrawal as main sponsor for 2024. This situation generates a lot of insecurity and affects the realization of the party. Especially since soliciting the private sector as a sponsor is undesirable; the national holiday is not a festival and it goes without saying that participation is free.
The resounding success of popular participation at Maisonneuve Park in 2023, as well as the satisfaction of the televised spectacle, attested by rising television ratings, eloquently testify to the deep attachment of Quebecers to their national holiday.
What is regrettable, however, is that for years, we have only been able to allocate a small part of the budget to the production of the parade, which in the past has been the pride of Montrealers. This parade, whose first civic event took place on June 24, 1843, has not only historical importance, but great contemporary importance as the metropolis faces major challenges of inclusion, promotion of Quebec culture and promotion of the French language.
I sometimes imagine Montrealers, and certainly newcomers, taken aback by a National Day parade without much fanfare compared to the deployment of the media and personalities from all walks of life, during the St. Patrick’s Day or Gay Pride parades. or in front of the mosaic of parades, in the streets of Montreal, during the respective national holidays of the many cultural communities.
I submit that the Quebec National Day parade in Montreal must become a strong moment to make known the various facets of our common history and to arouse this feeling of pride and belonging among citizens of all origins and their families. . In the anonymity of a big city, vibrating together solidifies the feeling of national community.
This is even more essential in the context of the great diversity of Montreal’s population. The time has come for the government of Quebec to demonstrate its deep attachment to the national holiday, particularly in the metropolis, where the future of the nation is taking shape.