Former Quebec premier François Legault has confirmed that his mother, Pauline Schetagne, has passed away. She was 97. The 69-year-old took to social media early Thursday morning to share the news. “Everything I have today, I owe first and foremost to her,” he wrote. “She was the one who instilled in me values of work, effort, love and respect.” In commemorating his mother’s memory, Legault called her a “strong woman” who “made sure that my two sisters and I never lacked for anything.” “She was the one who organized the financing for the purchase of our house. She was the one who organized our vacations by renting a chalet or going camping,” he said. “She was the one who organized the family parties on Saturday evenings.” Legault added that he will always remember his mother as “a woman full of energy, an involved woman,” who often volunteered in her community. “She was also a proud woman,” he noted. “She had been raised in the small francophone village of Old Pointe-Claire. And I often saw her at Fairview Shopping Centre demanding to be served in French.” In his message, the former premier also took a moment for his father, Lucien Legault, who passed away in 1984 at age 59. “Today, I regret not going [to visit] more often, especially during my years in politics,” he said. “I keep telling myself that, in the end, you were suffering a lot and that it’s better this way. But I can’t believe I won’t see you anymore.”
