Met in an interview, she explains that as a history teacher at secondary schools in the region, she became interested in provincial politics as a PQ activist and also took care of the school newspaper and the student council. As a teacher at Marie-Rivier and Saint-Bernard College, she adds: “I was used to a boy’s environment.” MRCs in the 04-Sud region, which included development plans that called for municipalities to create city plans.
Realizing that in the future cities should anticipate and plan their development, she presented her report in 1981 and entered politics. She presented herself as a Drummondville councilwoman, a position she won in 1983. She was the first woman councilwoman in Drummondville and, at the time, the only one. “Two women ran at the time and one was elected. The message I take from this is that voters had no objection to voting for women. It was the women who were reluctant to apply.” She adds that this is precisely why the Association of Local Authorities set up the Women and Governance Committee to encourage women to run.
At the end of her first term, Ms Ruest-Jutras finds the atmosphere in the Hôtel de Ville rather uncomfortable and hesitates: run for mayor or go home? Interested in politics, she ran for mayor and was elected in 1987 during a difficult time for the city. Drummondville is in a period of deindustrialization, with the textile sector, which has dominated for decades, in serious trouble. The city’s image is disastrous: an article in L’Actualité calls it “Drummondville: a city in agony” and Drummondville is one of CROC’s favorite destinations. “Let’s change the image,” the new mayor will initially say. Fortunately, the city has a good entrepreneurial fabric and by encouraging everyone to work together we are getting results, even citing Drummondville as an example of economic diversification. She considers Drummondville’s dossier on economic diversification to be one of her most important.
The establishment of a campus by the University of Quebec in Trois-Rivières (UQTR) is also considered a great success. “This time I was afraid I would run out of time, but it finally worked! she trusts. But in the end, the project was officially accepted by Prime Minister Pauline Marois in 2013. She also counts among her major concerns: the Maison des Arts and the development of the tourism sector.
“There’s also community amalgamation, which isn’t negligible, as it’s made it possible to increase Drummondville’s population, but also allowed for better planning and planning,” she says. Ms. Ruest-Jutras was also the first woman to hold the presidency of the Union des Municipalités du Québec. Among other things, she will work to promote the participation of women in politics. She admits to being quite happy with the results: “You just have to look at the news and see how many women are occupying the town halls.” The Union will also create a prize in her name, the Francine-Ruest-Jutras -Award to highlight the contribution of women in politics. “A great honor! she comments. She was in office during the time of the church mergers and defended the mergers against the proponents of the splits. She will also serve four times as prefect of Drummond and chair the Centre-du-Québec regional conference of elected officials.
Outside of politics, Ms. Ruest-Jutras has served on the board of directors of Hydro-Québec and the Institute for SME Research at UQTR, among others.
In 2013 she left politics. What is she most proud of? “The change in Drummondville’s image that created a sense of belonging,” is the first thing she mentions. During his 26 years as mayor, Drummondville has changed a lot: population growth, job creation, etc. “Because we all worked together,” she says.
For Francine Ruest-Jutras, however, the time for full retirement had not yet come: in 2015 she was elected President of the UQTR Board of Directors. The following year, however, she left the studio to “make time with her family” and…get back to the piano.
She will serve on the UQTR board for a period before finally retiring. For Drummondville, however, it’s an era that ends in 2013 with the departure of a woman who helped break several “glass ceilings.”