Conner Rousseau kicks off a relaxed listening tour in a juicy dialect and even participates in polonaise (Sint-Niklaas)

Conner Rousseau (Vooruit) kicked off his listening tour on Tuesday evening with a try-out in the Fabiola meeting center in Sint-Niklaas. Over the next six weeks, the Vooruit list pusher will travel to 21 cities and municipalities in East Flanders. “I want to show people that they are being listened to,” said Rousseau.

Visibly relaxed, Conner Rousseau entered the attractive meeting center. A senior afternoon had ensured that the audience was already well warmed up for the try-out of his listening tour. The Sint-Niklas politician actually ventured into a polonaise before the start.

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“I don’t really know what to expect in the coming weeks,” Rousseau starts. “I will probably not always have a ready-made answer to the questions or concerns that those present will present to me. I especially want to show that politicians can really listen to the people in order to help them regain confidence in politics. I want to take the concerns I hear here today and in the coming weeks to parliament… if I get elected, of course.” (Read more below the photo)

In a juicy Sint-Niklaas dialect, Rousseau often answers the varied questions about volunteer work, bus transport, pensions and living wages with a playful quip. For example, he indicates that people can ask him anything, except things about his private life, because he says that has been spread widely enough in the past year.

When asked about certificates for certain courses, he says that he needs to take a closer look at the party program in detail. “I didn’t contribute to it, because I was away for a while,” he says. (Read more below the photo)

The listening tour doesn’t officially start until tomorrow (Wednesday, ed.) in cafe The Little Star in Sint-Niklaas and that location is not coincidental either. “The café has been my grandfather’s favorite café for many years and I took my first steps in a café there as a little boy,” says Rousseau. “That place is symbolic for me and at the same time I want to visit ordinary people with the listening tour to hear what keeps them awake at night. There is no better place to start the final straight line towards the elections.”

More than a thousand sympathizers have now registered for the 21 evenings that will take place in East Flanders over the next six weeks.