LETTER FROM MONTREAL

Over the past few months, there's been a whiff of great resignation in Quebec. Not the kind of resignation seen elsewhere on the North American continent or in Europe, of burned-out or bored employees seeking meaning in their work, but that of elected officials who prefer to throw in the towel rather than continue to endure a political mandate that has become an ordeal. Since the last municipal elections in 2021, more than 800 of the province's 8,000 or so elected representatives have given up their seats as municipal advisers or mayors.

To justify their defection, they have cited in turn "a widespread climate of disrespect," "incivilities between elected representatives and citizens" and "harassment via social media that can go as far as threats against families." Some have made no secret of the fact that the ever-increasing responsibilities incumbent upon them, between the housing crisis raging throughout Quebec and the challenges of climate change, which would require financial resources municipalities lack, have also fueled their sense of powerlessness.

The proportion of women among these resignations has not yet been revealed. But the resounding departure in February of France Bélisle, mayor of Gatineau, the province's fourth-largest city, was a wake-up call.

Already in the 2022 provincial election, two-thirds of the members of the Assemblée Nationale (MNA) who chose not to stand for re-election were women. Marie Malavoy, former Parti Québécois MNA (2000-2014) and now president of the Club of Ex-Parliamentarians' women's committee, suggested one explanatory factor: "Elected women seem to attach more importance to the usefulness of their role than their male colleagues. If they feel that their role doesn't live up to their expectations, and if, on top of that, they are targeted more intensely on social media, they have no reason to stay."

To attract newcomers to public life, and help them stay on once they're in place, this women's committee of the Club of Ex-Parliamentarians and the independent organization Women, Politics and Democracy Group (GFPD) have relied on a specific resource, Elles du Pouvoir ("Women in Power"), set up 2019.

It's an all-female political club, intended as a counterpart to the informal boys' clubs that men have always cultivated. Esther Lapointe, head of the GFPD, pointed out that "after their day's work, male politicians exchange ideas over a beer, give each other advice, encourage each other and work out strategies amongst themselves. Women don't have this opportunity; their second day of work starts at home. We want to help them break out of this isolation."

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