On Monday night, more than 100 students will enter the national assembly in Quebec City and assume the roles of party leaders, ministers and journalists for a week.

It will be the 36th edition of the Quebec Student Parliament (PEQ), a six-day political simulation where young people aged 18 to 25 can discover what it's like in the back rooms of power. The last edition was held in 2020, just before COVID-19 health measures shut events like it down.

"It remains an educational place, so the goal is to deconstruct how our political system works, what makes us have laws and how it will work, how we got there," said PEQ board of directors member Marie-Pier Désilets.

She was involved for five years with the parliament, drafted a bill and defended it in the House.

Antoine Dervieux is eager to start the simulation. For his first year in the PEQ, he will be on the communications team of the Ministry of Public Transport for the "Blue" party, which is historically more left-wing than its opponent, the "Red" party.

Dervieux has already participated in the Youth Parliament, a similar initiative that reaches out to high school students.

"It was through this that I realized that I was interested in politics and that I especially got a different perspective on politics," he said. "Because of this experience, I was also interested in what was going on in the house. I was also interested in the bills, in dissecting them to try to understand them better and not stop at the basic image that is conveyed in the press or social networks."

COMPLEX SIMULATION

Each party will spend two and a half days in the role of government and two and a half days in opposition. They will be able to present a budget, bills and a white paper.

They will cover topics as varied as advertising, health, the environment, foreign workers and the public economy.

Swearing-in, speeches, parliamentary committees and Question Period will also be on the agenda.

In addition to the Blue and Red caucuses, 20 or so students will play the role of journalists.

"They will interview parliamentarians, they will do scrums, they will really go after them to get newspapers, radio and TV shows, to really give a very realistic aspect to the experience," said Désilets.

"It really takes a lot of energy because it's non-stop for six days," she said. "But I think that what really gets us going during that week is the ideas that are discussed; we're really running on adrenaline."

"It's made me much more critical, and I would recommend it to anyone who is interested in politics," said Dervieux. "Politics, if used well, can really solve most, if not all, of a society's problems."

This report by The Canadian Press was first published in French on Jan. 2, 2023.