A politician dares to take leave!

Politics is a very funny place.

It’s the only job where, even if you work crazy hours, there are people (often your opponents) who criticize you for sometimes taking a day off.

Even if it is well deserved.

Even if it will make you a better elected official.

Over the past week, two politicians who don’t have much in common, Justin Trudeau and Paul St-Pierre Plamondon, made headlines because they dared to… take their leave.

And then, we wonder why quality candidates, who would have much to offer to the public debate, hesitate to enter the political arena.

After working 19 days out of 22 – including a stay abroad for international meetings – since the beginning of November, Justin Trudeau spent his last Friday evening off with his children at the Taylor Swift show in Toronto.

At the same time, in Montreal, a demonstration against NATO got out of hand. A small group of around thirty thugs threw smoke bombs, broke windows and set fire to a car.

The leader of the Conservative Party of Canada, Pierre Poilievre, was not going to miss such a great opportunity to go on the attack.

According to Mr. Poilievre, these acts of violence are a “symbol of the chaos reigning in Canada after nine years of radical policies under Justin Trudeau,” he wrote on X. As my colleague Isabelle Hachey explained, this reading the situation, it was nonsense¹.

In his publication, Mr. Poilievre also made a personal attack: “Trudeau dances while Montreal burns. »

What Mr. Poilievre implies: a prime minister should never take an evening off with his children, at least not be blamed for it.

Given his duties, a prime minister is obviously never completely on leave. He is available at all times if there is a national emergency. The demonstration in Montreal, although reprehensible, did not qualify as an emergency of such importance.

Mr. Poilievre reacted to the protest on the X network on Friday evening at 11:55 p.m.

Very early the next morning, at 7:23 a.m., Foreign Minister Mélanie Joly condemned the thugs. Considering that people sleep at night and that there was no national emergency, the Trudeau government reacted correctly. Prime Minister Trudeau also himself condemned the acts of anti-Semitism, intimidation and violence a few hours later, Saturday noon.

After Justin Trudeau, it is the turn of the leader of the Parti Québécois, Paul St-Pierre Plamondon, to be criticized for taking leave.

After 14 consecutive days of work (including weekends), Mr. St-Pierre Plamondon was absent on Tuesday, the day after Donald Trump’s surprise announcement on tariffs. (The leader of the PQ still wrote on the subject on his social networks Tuesday morning.)

According to QUB Radio, Mr. St-Pierre Plamondon spent Tuesday at the spa. Imagine!

Immigration Minister Jean-François Roberge denounced the absence of the PQ leader in the National Assembly, which was studying a bill on Tuesday aimed at reducing the number of foreign students in Quebec.

“I don’t know where he was, but I can tell you that he was not in the parliamentary committee where we were studying asylum applications, foreign students and immigration,” said Minister Roberge. He throws this stone into the pond and when we come to seriously study the bill: no PQ MP [n’est présent]. »

Minister Roberge, a parliamentarian who does not usually indulge in personal attacks, would have done better to avoid a little embarrassment.

Political party leaders generally lead crazy lives. They work extremely hard, and Mr. Roberge knows it very well.

Attacking your opponent because he’s taking a day off is pecking around.

Justin Trudeau did well to spend his Friday evening with his children at the Taylor Swift concert.

Paul St-Pierre Plamondon did well to take a day off last Tuesday. (It doesn’t matter what he did.)

If these personal attacks against Justin Trudeau and Paul St-Pierre Plamondon are particularly unhealthy, it is because they reinforce this false belief – unfortunately widespread – that an employee chained to his desk who works long hours is more productive than his colleague who works normal hours.

At the end of the 2000s, two Harvard researchers carried out a study on the work habits of employees of the Boston Consultant Group. Their conclusion: consultants were more productive when they were required to take time off (such as evenings and weekends)².

Working long hours (more than 55 per week) can also lead to more health problems³.

In the long term, employees working less than 40 hours per week performed better on cognitive tests than employees working more than 55 hours per week, Finnish researchers found⁴.

In short, the human brain is not made to work continuously. He needs to rest.

That goes for everyone.

For our elected officials too.

1. Read the column “Routine in Montreal: full of rubbish”

2. Read the Harvard study “Making Time Off Predictable – and Required”

3. Read the Harvard study “The Research Is Clear: Long Hours Backfire for People and for Companies”

4. Read the study “Long Working Hours and Cognitive Function: The Whitehall II Study”

What do you think? Participate in the dialogue