43rd Legislature of the Quebec National Assembly
Agenda of the Legault Government
The first session of the 43rd legislature of the Quebec National Assembly opened on November 29.
On
November 20, the Marxist-Leninist Party of Quebec (PMLQ) held a second
national meeting to discuss and exchange views on the Quebec election
results and the Legault government's agenda.
The very informative meeting covered a range of concerns of interest to the working class and people of Quebec who are fighting for their rights and the restoration of social programs, and against state violence and discrimination against Indigenous peoples, immigrants, migrant workers and refugees, as well as Canada's pro-war and anti-Haiti policies, amongst other things.
The refusal of Parti Québécois Members of the National Assembly to swear the oath of allegiance to King Charles III of England as a condition to taking their seats in the National Assembly was also addressed.
Concerning the agenda of Premier François Legault, PMLQ director Christine Dandenault noted the nature of his avowed nationalism, pointing out that nationalism without social content and without vesting the decision-making power in the people is unacceptable. Her introductory remarks to the meeting also set the Legault agenda for Quebec in the context of developments in Quebec, Canada, the United States and the world today.
The neo-liberal anti-social offensive is in profound crisis with the seizure of state powers by narrow private supranational interests. Supranational private interests such as McKinsey & Company, amongst others, are managing government spending, and the intelligence agencies and U.S. military are dictating policy and infrastructure needs based on an economy which serves U.S. war production and the U.S. striving for domination everywhere. Oligopolies acting as cartels and coalitions have taken over decision-making. Legislatures have lost their purpose as representatives of any national sovereignty whatsoever, which for all intents and purposes no longer exists.
Over the course of the meeting, information was presented that elaborated the pay-the-rich schemes and methods used to destroy education and privatize health care systems as well as sell out Quebec's resources and pay the rich for infrastructure. There was information too on the measures being put in place so that the U.S. military can take control of Canadian and Quebec mines and factories in the name of securing supply chains, transportation, communications, energy and security corridors. To do this, governments are arming themselves with unlimited police powers which are all part of what is called "the King's democracy," enshrined in the Constitution Act 1867 and the Constitution Act 1982.
What is happening in the country and around the world is truly alarming, Christine pointed out in her introduction. But, she emphasized, the most important thing is not to lose sight of the role the working class and people play when they fight for the affirmation of their just claims on society. "Our future lies in fighting for the rights of all, not placing false hope in corrupt politicians and anachronistic political institutions, all of which serve alien class and anti-national interests," she said, highlighting once again that the people must depend on their own wisdom, creativity and ability to bring new forms into being which serve them.
The PMLQ representative then addressed the nationalism of François Legault, pointing out that it is centred on narrow business interests, devoid of social content. It is based on using police powers to impose decisions taken by the narrow supranational private interests which have seized the political power and the intelligence agencies in the service of the U.S. striving for hegemony all over the world. It is an agenda which fraudulently claims it upholds human rights and women's rights and the rights of Indigenous peoples but works to preserve racist colonial values and institutions based on "white man's burden," the U.S. as "indispensable nation" and the superiority of the no-longer-functioning Anglo-American allegedly democratic institutions.
According to the new normal of governments of police powers, people are things to be used and thrown away. Any memory of national construction is ignored, forgotten and abandoned. Quebec nationalism without social content and without representation of the people by vesting the decision-making power in them is unacceptable, Christine pointed out.
The thesis put forward by the PMLQ is that, today, the working class must constitute the nation and vest sovereignty in the people, Christine said. She presented a brief overview of how the national question has posed itself at both the federal and Quebec levels of government in the past to illustrate the bankruptcy of the so-called nationalist position of the Legault government today. The review highlights how the struggle of the people for rights has posed itself at each turning point and that rights are not an abstraction based on a false rendering of colonial values as eternal. Today the fight for the rights of all is a matter of affirming the human right to be.
Following this introduction, speakers representing the working class of Quebec made presentations which illustrate the agenda the Legault government is pursuing. TML Daily is publishing these presentations in the coming days to bring to readers' attention where the Legault government is taking Quebec. The need is to change the direction of the economy and uphold the rights of all by fighting for democratic renewal and a constitutional order which puts human beings at the centre of its concerns.
This article was published in
Volume 52 Number 51 - December 1, 2022
Article Link:
https://cpcml.ca/Tmld2022/Articles/D520511.HTM
Website: www.cpcml.ca Email: editor@cpcml.ca