Former Quebec Premier Lucien Bouchard says he was a victim of bullying

As a politician, Lucien Bouchard was a force to be reckoned with: the former Quebec premier was feisty, passionate and often intimidating.

Apparently, it wasn't always that way.

In a new YouTube video — produced by an anti-bullying organization in Quebec — Bouchard talks about being bullied as a child.

"I’m not only speaking theoretically, I also lived it during my childhood," Bouchard says in French, according to the Canadian Press.

"I know what it’s like to be bullied by someone much older and much stronger.

"Bullying is a social problem. We must convince one and all that it’s an unacceptable way to act in society."

[ Related: Former Quebec premier Lucien Bouchard is also against the values charter ]

In an interview with La Presse, Bouchard went into more detail.

"Black eyes, a bloody mouth, it was serious," he said, according to the National Post.

"I was humiliated by those who were settling scores with the kids at the head of the class."

[ Related video: Proposed cyberbullying bill touches on terrorism, cable theft ]

The video coincides with National Anti-bullying Week and was released on the same day that the federal government introduced legislation that cracks down on cyber-bullying.

That bill, introduced by Justice Minister Peter MacKay would make it illegal for anyone to distribute "intimate images" without the consent of the subject and make it easier to take such images off the Internet.

"Once [an image is] on the Internet, once it's been uploaded, it has the ability to go viral. We need to also empower the police to have the tools to track and preserve and present information [to the courts]," Mackay told reporters.

So far, the proposed legislation has won the accolades of victims' groups and parents of victims.

"It's a step in the right direction," Carol Todd — mother of a B.C. teen who killed herself following months of cyber-bullying — told CBC News.

"The only thing that was going through my mind was that if this was in place three years ago when I first started reporting the things that were happening to Amanda … I think my daughter would be here."

National anti-bullying week runs until November 22nd with events planned throughout the country.

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