Pier-André Bouchard gives a positive assessment of the strongest student strike movement in Québec's history.
Le fil des événements, April 28th 2005, by Pascale Guéricolas [freely translated by Pier-André Bouchard]
Pragmatism. This may be what defines best Pier-André Bouchard, former student in mathematics at Laval University. Obviously, the success of the most important strike movement of the four last decades is not getting to the head of the former president of the Québec Federation of University Student (FEUQ). Like the calm and thougthful leader we have seen on television in the last months, he gives a positive assessment of the fight won over the government to save the grants and loans program given to students. He does put some nuance, however. "I am satisfied at 66%, reflecting the vote of the student unions, he says. However, we managed to get back 482 millions of the 515. And mostly, we can boast that the government went back on its decision whereas he did not budge when labor unions where fighting for [the change in] article 45".
It is around the family diners, with his parents, both employees of Laval University, Pierrette Bouchard, Claire-Bonenfant distinguished professor on women's condition and Jean-Claude St-Amant, professional researcher and former union leader, that Pier-André Bouchard took interest for politics and debates. "Straight to the point" could be the motto of this mathematics student who do not like highly complicated speeches. "I always try to come with very pragmatic arguments in order to explain how a government policy can affect people's life, particularly if they are not convinced in the first place that they should take action. Speaking ideologically to those already convinced is a waste of time." So during his campaign, the FEUQ used a lot of statistics in order to show how were affected the poorest students in post-secondary education and that students pay back more than seven times what they have cost to society.
A committed student.
This practical speech orientation, Pier-André Bouchard developed it while he was representing the mathematics and statistics students union and then the Science and engineering student union of Laval University. "It is a very pragmatical student association, he recalls. I remember that when I attended CADEUL
His very active commitment changed his interests in his original studies in mathematics, which he put aside for the last three years since he was a full time elected student officer. If he was originally interested in Astrophysics, he his now more looking for a master in economics after finishing his undergrad studies. "I wish to begin economics by the backdoor, far from the mainstream who says, for instance, that tax cuts leads to higher wealth, he says. I find that economics is a nice set of practical tools to look at social problems in a pragmatic way." Between two demonstrations, the former FEUQ's president has been caught dreaming of starting a small group of economists to put put rigor in some studies made by think-thanks like the Montréal's Economic Institute. And politics, like his former colleague Nicolas Brisson ? "People push me a little, but I want to end the break and finish my studies. Furthermore, what we achieved is a great demonstration that you do not need to be elected to change things. Citizens can change things more often than every four years during elections."