A crossroads can last the time of a flash. Or take years. In the case of Véronique Hivon, it’s a bit of both. She said goodbye to politics in 2022. She believes she is still a little in this crossroads which is that of so many ex-elected: life after politics.
When The press Launched the idea of this summer series on the crossroads, I thought of the old PQ member. I knew that she had tripped to politics, that she had matured her departure for a long time … and that the postpolitics, for many former elected officials-whether after being chosen or imposed-is a difficult phase.
A few months before the municipal elections, one year and dust in Quebec elections, Véronique Hivon shared with me, for a coffee, some crumbs of wisdom on the crossroads when we leave politics … or that politics leaves us.
Photo Marco Campanozzi, the presses
Véronique Hivon
She begins by speaking at length about what politics was for her. From his first attempt to be elected, in 2007. From his election in his original patelin, Joliette, in 2008.
Politics is a vortex, she illustrates.
The round trips on the 40, in the snow. Politics is a human, political, parliamentary adventure that has given meaning to my life. That of making a difference in the fight, of making changes. But you are still in a vortex, in a succession of events. Action, reaction …
Véronique Hivon
A vortex is a whirlwind, which can suck you, which is more powerful than you. A new fate at 6:45 am, says the former member, “and at 7 am, you have to have a position, a clear, nuanced, informed reaction”, think in the short term by trying to never lose sight of the medium and long term. A permanent vortex.
In the case of Véronique Hivon, in 2008, she tamed two whirlpools simultaneously: that of politics and that of maternity.
“I had my nomination in June 2008. The government of Jean Charest was a minority, the party wanted to be ready. I was elected on December 8, 2008… and a few days before the start, we had the response from Vietnam: a little girl was waiting for us… ”
Véronique Hivon and her spouse have been in the adoption process for a few years. And there, a few days before the elections, the signal arrived from the end of the world: your little girl is waiting for you!
“I was in the countryside and my boyfriend sent me photos of car seats for children,” she said … “
— Donc : double vortex ?
— Double vortex ! »
She fell into politics and maternity at the same time, missing her swearing in with all the deputies due to adoption trip to Vietnam. She does not regret anything, politics and parenthood have been meaningful adventures.
Politics, motherhood: it started in an intense way. And I had the feeling for 14 years that it never stopped.
Véronique Hivon
Nothing is perfect, but still, the course of Mme Hivon as a deputy is something like a flawlessness: deputy for 14 years, piquist minister in the short minority government, admired in all political families for her human and consensual approach, godmother (in opposition) of a law which has devoted great freedom, that of choosing the moment of his death when one is condemned by the disease.
We arrive, precisely, at the crossroads: she announced in 2022 that she will not stand out in Joliette.
After the vortex, vertigo?
“You can’t an anchor in a few weeks.” I took a transition year. Just to … Live. Make lunches to my daughter, put her at school, go see her in competition. My God that I had happiness and wonder! I got back in shape. I did some conferences. But I did not make any commitment. »»
Photo Marco Campanozzi, the presses
Véronique Hivon
At the whim of the conversation, his memories take the form of a kind of manual for the post-political.
“It’s much easier when your choice is. When you decide not to request another mandate, as I did. Because you have taken the process, reflection. It’s easier than when the voters tell you “goodbye” … which can be violent. »»
To those who will undergo electoral defeat, she says: “You should not take it personal, even if you have given yourself. It is generally not you who are rejected. We live from electoral campaigns based on chiefs, there are desires for change in the population … and I say it: there can be beautiful in life after politics! »»
After politics, observes Véronique Hivon, you should not be in the insecurity of the continuation: “You have to reclaim your life. You trip. It is a passion. And it becomes a part of your identity, to be a deputy. »»
And that’s what’s hard: when you go, you abandon part of your identity. So you are facing questions: who are you, outside of politics? What do you want? Me, I appreciated as that could not be these 14 years. But I said to myself: you will see what is coming.
Véronique Hivon
Rule of gold, for her: to force nothing, to choose nothing. Apply a real period of decompression. I guess while listening to Véronique Hivon that this space between the end of politics and the rest of life is full of fog.
“I had tense hands, offers. It is a luxury and I am aware of it. But I resisted. I didn’t want to get involved too quickly. So, my advice to elected officials who must think of the post-political is as follows: Give yourself time. Especially when you lose your election. To those who will lose, there is mourning to do. Your GPS will inevitably tell you: “Recalculculi in progress” … even when you have thought about it before. »»
For Véronique Hivon, this buffer period was “paid”, it allowed her to stay for several months at the crossroads, to live and to think of the after. With hindsight, she believes that she made the right choices: “I have built a political post-life with different songs …”
Photo Marco Campanozzi, the presses
Véronique Hivon
In the first year, a soft rhythm: here, presences on boards of directors. There, conferences. Reapprivise his life, life. And the rest. Think about the best way to be useful and have an impact, two polar stars that were clear for her in politics.
How to have impact, be useful after politics?
Arrived this offer from the University of Montreal: “Do you want to teach, Madame Hivon? »
The university choice always came back at the top of my list when I thought of the post-political. Because there are lots of possibilities inside this possibility. Research, conferences, teaching. And, also, the possibility of touching lots of subjects: it is more horizontal than vertical.
Véronique Hivon
A year after leaving politics, Véronique Hivon therefore became a guest professor to the Masters in Political Science at the University of Montreal, where she is also a researcher at the Maison des Affairs Public and International.
In politics, she felt useful and she had an impact, she said. In university life, she feels useful to teach the practice of politics, to explain how we go from an idea to a public policy: “I have a feeling of utility in transmission. »»
And at the Maison des Affaires Publics et Internationale, Véronique Hivon tries to correct a gap from which she suffered in politics: the lack of links between university research and public decisions. “I found that academics did not have enough reflex to go to politics, to decision -makers. So I organize meetings between decision -makers and researchers, he is an incubator of public policies … “
She feels useful, in this new life. For the impact, the policy immediately offers it, very often. At the University, says Véronique Hivon, we must integrate that we work in the medium and long term. Which does not bother her, because in politics, she was one of those who took their time: “We can say that my crossroads last long. At the University of Montreal, I can try a lot. It is an annual, renewable contract. It’s like renewing your wishes every year. And I live well with that. »»
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