I like friendship, I like banquets. And I like to gather my friends, old and new, in big and beautiful banquets. The old comrades meet there, the new ones integrate into the gang, in their own way, by finding their own front door.

Passing through Montreal for the holidays, I took the liberty of gathering mine together in the private room on the second floor of a restaurant that I am not far from considering as an extension of my house, I am so happy there. .

Comrades

Tuesday evening, we were more than twenty. I'm still moved!

I won't lie: we are not just a bunch of bankers.

We are, essentially, comrades, and the intellectual life animates us.

We all pretty much met in the fight for independence, even if some newcomers, whom no one would have imagined seeing seated with us in the past, come from other backgrounds, and probably did not expect to land there. We integrate them quickly.

Together, we talk about Quebec, France, the West, independence, the delusions of our time. It happens that we find ourselves in a smaller committee. We can banquet at four, at five, at ten. But the spirit remains the same each time. And you have to banquet often.

People will ask me why I am devoting this column to such a subject. For a simple reason: Quebecers like to sing about the joys and virtues of the family. With reason. It is a beautiful and sacred institution.

Equality

But friendship responds to other codes, to other springs, and strangely, it is less valued in our culture, except at New Years, which gives a great opportunity to celebrate it. It is rarer than you might think.

Friendship is a song of life.

So, happy new year, dear friends, and long live friendship: it is at the origin of the most beautiful adventures!