Magali Picard could be the first woman to lead FTQ

She will be the first woman to lead the Quebec labor federation with more than 600,000 members.

Magali Picard, former national executive vice -president of the Public Service Alliance of Canada – the large pan -Canadian union of federal public servants – is actually proving his interest in trying to replace the current president of FTQ, Daniel Boyer .

Mr. Boyer announced in mid-May that he would not seek a renewal of his mandate at the central trade union congress next November.

Si Ms. Picard is known across Canada for long fighting the failures of the Phoenix payment system, in particular.

She also campaigned to increase the presence of women in decision -making and influential bodies, including the union environment.

Proud Wendat

Less well known, Ms. Picard is also Aboriginal, a proud Wendat from Wendakehe said in an interview with The Canadian Press on Tuesday.

It was also there that he remembers, very young, feeling the need for social justice.

I was 12 when I came to Wendake. And I immediately realized that my father’s nine sisters lived outside the reserve. Then my father’s siblings lived on the reserve. So I asked my father: “Why don’t your sisters live in the village and are in Loretteville next door?” He told me, “It’s because they married white men. They lost their citizenship because they were women and if they didn’t marry an Aboriginal person, they would lose their citizenship.” At 12, 13, I just now understood what discrimination wassaid Ms. Picard.

Then, as an adult, he was hired into the federal public service.

Social justice in the broadest sense has always challenged me. In the workplace, I know nothing about unions. Quickly, I was the one in the workplace without a particular hat, went to see the employer and said, “Listen to me, it doesn’t work, it doesn’t make any sense”. The union approached me saying: “You, you don’t know, but you are a unionist”said Ms. Picard.

The position of president of FTQ is also held by the first vice president of the board of directors and member of the executive committee of the Fonds de solidarité FTQ.

Magali Picard said in this regard that he has been the manager of the Fund from 2012 to 2018. Therefore, investing in the Quebec economy and keeping jobs is no longer known to him.

So far, Ms. Picard is the only candidate to run. However, interested parties can still move forward between now and the November congress.

And the general secretary?

In addition, FTQ number two, Denis Bolduc, has indicated that he will seek a renewal of the mandate as general secretary of the central.

Some people saw him run for the presidency, but he said in an interview that he was comfortable in the current situation.

And he praised the candidacy of Mrs. Picard. It would be a historic moment for a woman, an aboriginal woman then, with a lot of talent, to be elected president. of FTQ.