Around a table of the National Assembly, The Journal met six participants from the Quebec Youth Parliament, young people involved and interested in politics, to ask them what they think about various current issues.
Are you worried about Trump’s arrival and the tariffs he could impose on Canada?
Julien Blanchet-Desbiens, law student at the University of Montreal: “I believe that there is an obvious danger for our Quebec and Canadian imports and exports that go to the United States. It is certain that if these tariffs come into force, it would be devastating and we would enter a recession.”
Rami El Hama, law student at UQAM: “It is also an opportunity to redefine our relations with our American partners. We must also be able to open up to other economic markets in order to no longer depend exclusively on a single partner who, at any time, can decide to end the relationship.”
Do you think that political polarization, fueled by algorithms on social networks, is a danger for democracy?
Catherine Brunet-Rodriguez: “I think polarization is definitely driven by social media. There are echo chambers and opinions that are really strong. People share opinions that are very extreme and we forget the nuances.”
Marianne Locas-Ouimet: “The more people go to extremes, the more people will be divided and the more it will have repercussions, as we see in the United States with the decline in relation to abortion. The more extreme the polarization, the more fragile democracy is.”
Nour Lahlou: “I sincerely think that this rise in power of the right is a fairly revealing symptom of what can happen when we close debates, when we establish taboos, everything that revolves around culture cancellation for example.”
What do you think about the rise of artificial intelligence (AI)?
Julien Blanchet-Desbiens: “I believe that AI will make it possible to automate certain tasks. This will especially affect white-collar workers and often the tasks that will be automated are the most boring. This will perhaps free up time to do something else that has more added value.”
Marianne Locas-Ouimet: “I do not agree. We thought, during industrialization, that this phenomenon would happen, that people would work less and have more time, but ironically, the opposite happened.”
What do you think about the future of French in Quebec?
Marianne Locas-Ouimet: “Actually, it’s a bit deplorable. At the law school, they no longer correct French mistakes in our exams and there are teachers who have to read the answers out loud for people who write by sound. I am also a French tutor with newcomers and I see that they really want to learn French. With the cuts in French, I think there are dissonances between the government’s speech and the actions it takes.”
Catherine Brunet-Rodriguez: “French is such a beautiful language and I think that as complex as it is, it is worth learning. I also believe that the quality of written and spoken language is in free fall and that we are becoming more and more lax about it. It is our duty, I believe, as a nation, to speak and write our language well.”
