Juliette Bonkoungou

“I enjoy debates, and being a Member of Parliament gives me enormous satisfaction. I regret that the sudden onset of my illness has kept me away from the Chamber at such a crucial time in my country's history. The rest is not up to me.”

“I have had high blood pressure for several years. But I can say that it was a sudden deterioration that was discovered when I accompanied my husband, who was ill at the time, to Paris for treatment.”

“I freely got involved in politics, I don't want to blame this involvement in particular because I know people who have high blood pressure but who have never been involved in politics. However, I note that most people of our generation involved in politics suffer from this illness. Politics is excessive stress, and in the long term it can indeed leave some traces on the body.”

“I'm feeling much better, which is what allowed me to ask the doctors for permission to come see my family and friends, recharge my batteries, clear my head, and go back out. I've been out of the country since last February, that's about eight months, which is a bit long”

“For us Africans, trade, diplomacy and policy go together. … To say, 'Our companies will go and get oil and other things, and we don't want to know,' that won't work.”

“We can't just have commercial relations, where Canadian firms can come get resources in Africa when at the level of the Canadian state and government there's no policy to go with that interest.”

“We're saying to Canada, China is there. Brazil is there now. India is very strong. Come too, but in an official way. That means having high-level political rapport.”