Quebec Premier's Attempts to Undermine Discussion Which Favours a Modern, Sovereign and Independent Quebec
On January 28, the Quebec National Assembly resumed its work in the midst of the hysteria surrounding the threats of Donald Trump against Canada and, by extension, also Quebec. It is also meeting in the context where workers, as well as communities across Quebec, are rising up against the measures adopted by the Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ) government that is intensifying the restructuring of the state for the benefit of narrow oligarchic private interests.
Quebec Premier François Legault has been making grand statements presenting himself as the champion of Quebec's economy, sovereignty and security by calling on Quebeckers to "stick together" in the face of Trump's threats of imposing tariffs and annexing Canada. Yet what the premier is actually doing is genuflecting before Donald Trump, as are federal ministers, other premiers and territorial leaders. He is proposing other ways to pay the oligarchic narrow private interests that dictate government policy in Quebec, as in the United States. He hopes to be dubbed by King Donald as a great knight.
While
the people of Quebec are discussing how to deal with the new
Trump
administration in the U.S. and what is emerging from our
relations with
it, the facts speak for themselves. The announcement by Amazon
that it
is closing its warehouses in Quebec with complete impunity has
intensified this
discussion and fueled the anger of Quebec workers. The economic
dependence of Quebec and Canada on others is flagrant and has
increased
in recent years.
Many of the flagships of the economy have been sold to private U.S. interests. According to the Quebec Ministry of Economy, Innovation and Energy, from 2019 to 2022, under the CAQ government, 222 Quebec companies were sold to foreign interests. From 2015 to 2018, under the Liberal government, 223 companies were sold to foreign interests. We are talking about Opsens, Logitec, Rona, Cirque du Soleil, etc. Our electricity is sold at a discount and is in the process of being privatized, our natural and mineral resources are exploited for the United States war machine, and so on. All of this is of great concern to Quebeckers. It highlights the accelerated level of domination of the economy by foreign oligarchs and monopolies, mainly U.S., and the need for a modern, sovereign and independent economy for Quebec.
It is up to the people to propose a nation-building project, to be masters of their own home once and for all! It is the people who must decide!
Like Trump Legault Seeks to Get Away with Impunity
Trump is not the only one using prerogative powers to break constitutional limits on his ability to act with impunity. Qualitatively speaking, Premier François Legault is doing the exact same thing when it comes to serving narrow private interests.
For several weeks, Legault has been trying to pull off a coup by presenting himself as a businessman like Trump and as a champion of Quebec's economic interests and saviour of the Quebec people from the giant to the south. For their part, the cartel parties in the National Assembly and their leaders are overexcited while the media are busy publishing polls on which party Quebeckers allegedly support, even though an election is not due until 2026. The cartel parties held caucuses before the National Assembly reconvened but those were to establish their partisan intervention strategy, assessing their chances of rising in the polls. In all of this, the people and the needs of Quebec are absent.
One
thing is clear, Quebec workers and organizations concerned about
the
social and natural environment will continue to contest the
absence of
the people in decision-making. Rallies, actions, strikes,
pickets,
stands and statements demanding what belongs to them by right
and for
an economy that
meets their expectations will continue. After adopting several
anti-people bills in the fall, the government tabled other bills
at the
very end of the fall parliamentary session that go in the same
direction, including Bill 69, An Act to ensure the
responsible governance of energy resources and
to amend various legislative provisions,
which aims at nothing less than the privatization of
Hydro-Québec, known as the jewel of the Quebec economy.
Since it
was tabled, many organizations and community groups from across
Quebec
have been opposing both the privatization of Hydro-Québec
and
all
the wind turbine projects that are disrupting their lives. Their
investigation shows that they are the ones who will pay for
these
turbines!
New job cuts and restrictions imposed by Santé Québec since January have aroused anger and opposition to this accelerated offensive against health care workers and the public health care system. Santé Québec which is demanding cuts of $1.5 billion from the health care system spent nearly $2 million in six months on external consultants, not to mention the astronomical salaries managers receive.
The 12,000 workers at 400 early childhood centres have held three one-day strikes, on January 23, February 6 and February 17 to demand what they need to be able to take care of the children. Improving their wages and working conditions is at the heart of their demands.
Quebec childcare workers
picket, February 17, 2025
The staff working in the Cree and Kativik school boards, members of the Association of Employees of Northern Quebec, held a four-day strike from January 16 to 21 in support of their demands for a collective agreement that guarantees them working conditions and wages that are acceptable to them.
On January 22, hundreds of artists held a third rally, this time in front of Premier Legault's office in Montreal, to demand investments in culture and for an end to their impoverishment.
Since the beginning of January, the voices of Quebeckers have been heard denouncing the announcement by the Administrative Tribunal that rents could increase this year by up to 5.9 per cent. The housing crisis is a national shame and housing is a right, not a privilege, and there are many collectives defending the right to housing, opposing this new attack on workers, families and the most vulnerable.
Demonstrations in support of the Palestinian resistance continue week after week, each demanding that Quebec and Canada cease all support for and participation in the genocide of the Palestinian people, including the closure of the Quebec government office in Tel Aviv.
Montreal demonstration in
support of Palestine, February 15, 2025
All these battles are crucial to establish a new direction for a modern Quebec nation that defends the rights of all. This is its agenda, Trump or no Trump, Legault or no Legault.
(Photos: PMLQ, CSN, PYM)
This article was published in
Volume 55
Number 2 - February 2025
Article Link:
https://cpcml.ca/Tmlm2025/Articles/M550024.HTM
Website: www.cpcml.ca Email: editor@cpcml.ca