Émilise Lessard-Therrien recently resigned from her position as co-spokesperson for Québec solidaire.
In 2012, I was in high school and I went to Montreal to participate in the famous maple spring protests that shook Quebec.
It was the first time I went out into the streets to make myself heard.
I was young and impressed by everything that Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois represented for young people.
The years followed and, like many young people who care about the environment and social justice, the Québec solidaire program piqued my curiosity.
I finally quickly understood that Québec solidaire was a political party like any other.
Return to earth
When I was in CEGEP, seeing Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois go, I told myself that this man was going to do politics like no other had known how to do before.
At that time, I could not foresee the future and I would never have imagined that ten years later, women who had become important within the party would come to relate so many negative experiences with Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois and at Québec solidaire.
However, this was the case with Émilise Lessard-Therrien and Catherine Dorion.
But hey… I’m not kidding you, I was naive.
Stay critical
If I can give one piece of advice to young people who are interested in politics, I would tell them to be careful to remain critical of the political figures they like or the political parties that join them.
For example, we cannot fool ourselves into thinking that all politicians want to pursue careers in politics solely to serve the common good. The careerist side and the desire to be recognized often come into play, in my opinion…
Politics is not a world of unicorns.
Remembering this helps to better analyze the programs and visions of the parties without falling into idolatry.
