Analysis: Being a politician and parent is a serious challenge in Quebec

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QUEBEC — The surprise decision by Saint-Laurent Liberal MNA Marwah Rizqy to announce plans to leave the political world to focus on raising her children has reopened the debate on reconciling the two.

The question remains: Can it be done?

That’s because for all the lofty talk about the need to modernize the political system and the institution that is the National Assembly so it works better for parents, getting something done is another matter.

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A case in point happened Wednesday.

Striking while the iron was hot a day after Rizqy’s announcement, Québec solidaire house leader Alexandre Leduc rose in the legislature to seek approval to adopt a motion re-launching discussions on the creation of a parental leave program for elected officials.

“Given that they did not accept our amendment on remote voting…” answered Coalition Avenir Québec government deputy house leader Mathieu Lévesque, explaining his refusal for allowing the debate to take place.

With that, the modernization process being discussed only a day earlier was again stopped, a victim of procedural wrangling, which illustrates why these reforms and others move so slowly or not at all.

Asked about the incident later by The Gazette, CAQ house leader Simon Jolin-Barrette steered the blame back at QS and the Liberals, too.

“We are at the stage of allowing MNAs to vote remotely for a work-family reconciliation,” Jolin-Barrette said. “Unfortunately, QS refused the amendments. I invite them to reflect on this point. They have already blocked, on several occasions — along with the Liberals — the possibility of remote voting like in Ottawa.”

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He argued, however, that there have been “enormous advances” in making the place more family friendly, and the reform process the CAQ promised in the past is “practically complete.”

It’s true there have been amendments to procedural rules. Since the days of the COVID-19 pandemic, MNAs no longer sit late into the night as part of a marathon legislative process.

It was around the same time that other regulations were changed allowing elected officials to take a leave of absence, with full pay, to deal with the birth or adoption of a child. The exact period of time is at the discretion of the MNA.

It took a long time but, in 2023, the assembly opened its first daycare for the children of MNAs. Located in the André Laurendeau building across the street from the legislature, the Conseil des petit trésors child care centre can welcome a total of 10 children under 10.

It is closed weekends and periods where the legislature does not sit. There is also a family room where children can amuse themselves while waiting for a parent to be done work.

But while QS welcomes these steps, the party thinks they don’t go far enough and have been asking for a formal parental leave system for years.

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“We made a timid step in the right direction a few years ago by entrenching in our code of ethics that a politician could be absent,” QS co-spokesperson Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois told reporters this week. “But it remains a particularly vague and unstable regime.”

Nadeau-Dubois himself only took one month when his daughter was born. He is expecting another child soon. Deputy-premier Geneviève Guilbault took three months when her daughter was born.

Gregory Kelley, Rizqy’s MNA husband, is currently on leave from work at the legislature to take care of their two sons, Abraham and Gabriel. He is working in his home riding of Jacques-Cartier and participating virtually in Liberal caucus meetings.

There is an argument to be made that the MNAs’ existing leave system, in some cases, is more financially generous than the average Quebecer is entitled to, but there are in fact no guidelines, which leaves some MNAs feeling uncomfortable even applying.

Some fear voters will have the impression they are not working and sitting at home on the taxpayer’s tab.

The system also does not deal with the myriad other reasons an MNA might have for not wanting to stay on the job after a child becomes part of the equation.

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In Rizqy’s case, unique because both she and Kelley are in politics, there are the long periods away from their home in Montreal.

On Tuesday, Rizqy mentioned how gut-wrenching it is for her to board a train for Quebec City Monday knowing she will be away from her children for three nights.

There are other misses: parent-teacher meetings, school plays, family Sundays lost attending community events.

“I don’t want to be a part-time mother,” Rizqy said. “I want to be in the same city every night to put them to bed. Right now this is not the case.”

Nadeau-Dubois and other MNAs in the same boat said they understood exactly what Rifeeling. Some MNAs say having children currently requires sacrifices that other parents might not accept.

“I would be lying if I said I didn’t see myself in Marwah’s statement,” Nadeau Dubois said. “Having young children in ridings hundreds of kilometres away from the legislature put us in extremely difficult situations.

“I think of all these young men and women who would like to get involved in politics and who say, “Boy, is it compatible with family life?”

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“I chose to get into politics as late as possible in the life of my children,” Employment Minister Kateri Champagne Jourdain, who travels weekly from the riding of Duplessis on the North Shore to work in the legislature, told La Presse.

“Today they are 15 and 18 years old and I still find it difficult. I miss them every day.”

There has been some progress on making the legislature more virtual, but it is limited.

While in Ottawa, MPs who are absent can participate in House of Commons proceedings and vote virtually on a smartphone, no such option exists for Quebec MNAs.

Jolin-Barrette argues such a system could be used for MNAs on parental leave or acting as a natural caregiver. The ideas are included in a reform package he has been trying to get adopted for two years but has yet to garner consensus support.

For exactly one year now MNAs have been voting on bills and motions electronically but the control pads remain tethered to their seats in the red room.

Witnesses at hearings into legislation can testify remotely on big screens watched by MNAs in committee rooms and the Quebec cabinet often meets virtually, but the digital revolution stops there.

pauthier@postmedia.com

x.com/philipauthier

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