{"id":45010,"date":"2022-05-30T14:35:44","date_gmt":"2022-05-30T18:35:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.stromspa.com\/?p=45010"},"modified":"2025-04-01T15:51:06","modified_gmt":"2025-04-01T19:51:06","slug":"doing-politics-differently-interview-with-catherine-fournier-mayor-of-longueuil","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.stromspa.com\/en\/magazine\/interviews\/doing-politics-differently-interview-with-catherine-fournier-mayor-of-longueuil\/","title":{"rendered":"Doing Politics Differently: Interview with Catherine Fournier, mayor of Longueuil"},"content":{"rendered":"

WIND OF CHANGE<\/em><\/span> \u2014 Trained as an economist, Catherine Fournier was the MNA for Marie-Victorin from 2016 to 2021, first within the Parti Qu\u00e9b\u00e9cois, then as an independent MNA. In April 2021, she announced her candidacy for mayor of Longueuil, the municipality where the constituency she represented since 2016 in the National Assembly is located, and she claimed victory on November 7, 2021. She thus became the youngest mayor to be elected in Longueuil, in addition to being the youngest elected in the history of the major cities of Quebec. Engaged, accessible, and attentive to citizens, we were pleased to welcome Catherine Fournier to Str\u00f8m Nordic Spa \u2014 Mont-Saint-Hilaire to speak with her about her journey and her vision.<\/p>\n

What made you want to get involved in politics?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve always had a natural curiosity about politics. I asked my parents lots of questions; I followed the news. At c\u00e9gep, I met some friends who were politically engaged and took me to events. I participated in the student mobilization in 2012. One thing led to another: I became a volunteer, I had responsibilities, and one day I asked myself, \u2018why not get involved in politics?\u2019 In my teenage years, I got involved in community groups and seniors\u2019 homes. My grandmother lived with me at the time, so I found that politics was a great way to combine my desire to get involved in my community and make a difference, to promote my ideas for society.\u201d<\/p>\n

Before getting into municipal politics, you served at the provincial level. What are the differences between the two?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cThe municipal level is closest to citizens. It has an influence on 70% of the services we use every day: public transit, parks, streets, recreation, urban planning, water, waste, etc. All this is the responsibility of the municipality.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the Quebec government, we deal with issues that are a little more universal, such as health, education, and the environment. This is where the big speeches and debates about bills happen, and directions are often given there that will be defined in cities. Cities are the place where things get implemented, and that\u2019s what I like! Completing<\/p>\n

concrete projects, being in the action. I appreciated the years I spent in the National Assembly; they gave me a knowledge base that ensured that I can perform in my role as mayor today.\u201d<\/p>\n

In 2017, you published the book L\u2019audace d\u2019agir<\/em>, a call for engagement from your generation, Gen Y. What do you notice about the political engagement of young people today?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cI wrote that book precisely to respond to the widespread idea that young people aren\u2019t engaged. But it\u2019s not that they aren\u2019t engaged; they\u2019re just engaged in a different way than their predecessors. We\u2019re a generation that gets involved in a more \u2018\u00e0-la-carte\u2019 way, in specific causes, rather than with a political party, where you have to endorse a wide range of ideas. This is also why, in my opinion, political parties are finding it increasingly difficult to recruit members. It\u2019s also for this reason that, in recent years, I\u2019ve developed a whole line of thinking on how to do politics in a non-partisan way. It\u2019s true that I founded a party myself to run for mayor of Longueuil, but I see this more as a vehicle of opinions, something very flexible and less cumbersome or defined than a traditional political party. That philosophy is changing, and this is maybe the difference that the generations see between themselves in terms of how to be politically engaged.\u201d<\/p>\n

In preparation for writing, you visited c\u00e9geps and universities to meet with young people. What did you get out of this?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cI received a very warm welcome, full of curiosity. I was just getting started as an elected official, and I got many questions from students about how to make their ideas heard. This isn\u2019t something that\u2019s taught at school, or at any rate, it\u2019s left to the discretion of teachers these days. How does politics work? What does an MNA, a mayor, or a city councillor do? How do the three levels of government differ? A citizenship education course is absolutely necessary to answer these questions.\u201d<\/p>\n

In fact, before you were elected mayor of Longueuil, you tabled a motion in the National Assembly to establish a civic and political education course in schools. What\u2019s happening with this project?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cThe motion that I tabled was accepted, and I recently received confirmation that this new course is being developed by the teams, particularly the Conseil sup\u00e9rieur de l\u2019\u00e9ducation. The first pilot projects should be established at the start of the 2022 school year. This course will give young people additional tools so that they can play their role as active citizens. We\u2019re expected to take our place in society, but school currently doesn\u2019t give us the means to do so. Decisions are made every day in our democratic institutions, and we\u2019re the ones who will live with them, and our children after us, so it\u2019s essential to be involved. I found it worrying to hear young people who admitted to me that they weren\u2019t going to vote, because they felt incapable of making an informed choice. That says a lot about the state of our democracy. Of course, there\u2019s an individual responsibility to get informed, but as a society, we have to make sure we provide the foundation. And by \u2018provide the foundation,\u2019 I don\u2019t just mean making the information available, but accessible, presented in simple terms, so that anyone can grasp the meaning of what is being communicated and use it on a daily basis to play their role in an even more accomplished way.\u201d<\/p>\n

What can you tell us about the current polarization of ideas? What motivates you to keep going despite the tension that this can cause to emerge?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cOur basic responsibility as politicians is to bring people together, and it\u2019s even better if we can bring people together on opposite sides. It\u2019s not about pleasing every group at all costs, but finding a consensus that will then ease tensions. By speaking in a positive and inclusive way and focusing on trust and transparency, in all humbleness, I hope to be able to play a role in finding our way out of this crisis, where so much polarization has been felt. I think every elected official has the responsibility to play this unifying role. We\u2019re used to playing politics against each other, bringing others down to elevate ourselves, and in my opinion, this is harmful to society and democratic life in general. I\u2019d like to prove that it\u2019s possible to do politics differently.\u201d<\/p>\n

Based on discussions that you may have had with colleagues who have been in politics for a while, do you think it\u2019s harder to do politics today, in the age of social media?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve already talked about this with colleagues who have been in the business for longer, and they find it quite difficult. These days, information travels so quickly that when something happens, you have to react almost instantly. It\u2019s kind of a challenge to know what will get the most attention! But that\u2019s how information works these days, so for people who have experienced both realities, the gap between the two is huge, and I totally understand them feeling the more negative sides of social media more.<\/p>\n

\u201cOn the other hand, I personally see it more positively than negatively. Since I\u2019m comfortable with the platforms, they allow me to communicate information to the population without always having to go through traditional media. Social networks also ensure that I can be accessible, let people get to know me\u2026 In my opinion, all these advantages greatly exceed the unpleasant side of the hurtful comments that might be received. However, I believe that the time we spend every day reacting to things that are going on in real time might sometimes be better invested, such as by searching for proactive solutions to real issues.\u201d<\/p>\n

Through all this, are you able to maintain a balance between work and your personal life?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cI learned it over time! When I started in politics, I never said \u2018no\u2019 to anything. I have a family and very understanding friends, but at a certain point, not just for them, but also for myself, it\u2019s important to give some time to them. We become better people at work when we have a better work-life balance, when we make room for other things in<\/p>\n

our heads and our daily lives. But it\u2019s not easy to stop when your job is your passion! I like looking at my emails while having coffee on Sunday morning, so I have to be careful. Just because I like it doesn\u2019t make it a healthy thing to do.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

WIND OF CHANGE \u2014 Trained as an economist, Catherine Fournier was the MNA for Marie-Victorin from 2016 to 2021, first within the Parti Qu\u00e9b\u00e9cois, then as an independent MNA. In April 2021, she announced her candidacy for mayor of Longueuil, the municipality where the constituency she represented since 2016 in the National Assembly is located, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":45036,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6302,1973],"tags":[3405,6086,6087],"class_list":["post-45010","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-favourite-articles","category-interviews","tag-interview","tag-politic","tag-politics"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.stromspa.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45010","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.stromspa.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.stromspa.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stromspa.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/18"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stromspa.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=45010"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.stromspa.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45010\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":45061,"href":"https:\/\/www.stromspa.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45010\/revisions\/45061"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stromspa.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/45036"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.stromspa.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45010"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stromspa.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=45010"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stromspa.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=45010"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}