Volume 52, Issue 2: Summer 2018
André Frappier Social Movements September 17, 2018
Just a few months away from the next Québec
election, the polls are indicating a possible majority
government for François Legault’s Coalition Avenir
Québec (CAQ), with 37 per cent of the vote, versus
28 per cent for the Québec Liberal Party that continues
to slide, a historic 19-per-cent low for the Parti
Québécois, and a steady nine per-cent for Québec
solidaire.
The financial crisis and the resulting economic
uncertainty are certainly having an impact. The climate
of uncertainty is not unique to Québec, but
precipitated by the global crisis that is impelling
large numbers of people to flee environmental
disasters, endemic poverty, repression and war.
Europe and North America (with the exception of
Mexico) had been relatively sheltered from the crisis
until recently, mainly because of their position of
dominance vis-à-vis the global south, gained through
economic exploitation and militaristic policies, with
the U.S. leading the way and Canada following. The
resulting permanent environmental and economic
crises have now reached our shores. The lasting
recession that has taken hold in Europe, and the
United States is now knocking at our door, both in
Canada and Québec.
The tired and corrupt Liberal Party can no longer
maintain credibility, despite its election promises.
The prevailing winds, however, are not blowing from
the Left, as evidenced by the victory of Macron in
France, Trump in the United States and Doug Ford in
Ontario, as well as the Conservative win in a recent
Québec federal by-election in the Saguenay. This
adds to the challenges faced by the Left and particularly
Québec solidaire, which has to put forward a
comprehensive and persuasive political response to
the situation in order to convince voters of the need
for far-reaching social change.
If we fail to provide this response, then protectionist
and anti-immigration sentiment will maintain its
hold on an electorate in search of solutions. To defeat
the Right, we need to clearly show who is responsible
for the current political and economic crises.
The CAQ has used the issue of immigration
to earn political capital, arguing that we need
to lower immigration levels to ensure better
integration of immigrants into Québec society,
and the party has not hidden its hostility
towards refugee claimants. As for the PQ, it has no
qualms about using ethnic nationalist appeals for
electoral purposes.
While the Liberals and the CAQ push privatization
to serve the interests of the business class, the PQ
promises to be a government that is proud of its
entrepreneurs and will put “the state in the service
of greater economic growth.” It plans to create a
more business-friendly environment by reducing
regulation.
The Québec Liberal Party has been a zealous
defender of the interests of the Québec business
class, and especially the oil and gas companies. The
CAQ works from the same playbook and has never
been very critical of Liberal policies in this regard.
The Parti Québécois in power under Pauline Marois
behaved in a similar way, subsidizing oil exploration
on Anticosti Island and tying the government to
the oil companies with a contract that cost $41 million
to cancel.
Québec solidaire will therefore be campaigning
against a worn-out Liberal Party and a PQ in a continuous
downward spiral, but also facing a general
decline in mass mobilization in the wake of various
setbacks in recent years. Québec’s trade union
movement, for instance, failed to build on the energy
and victories of the 2012 student strike.
The challenge for QS lies not only in waging a
successful election campaign, in the traditional
sense, but also in its ability to restore hope for
change and rally the forces of social opposition to
rekindle the struggle.
Translated by Andrea Levy.
André Frappier is a regular contributor
to Dimension. He also
serves on the editorial
board of the online
weekly Presse-toi à
gauche and has been
a member of the FTQ
Montréal Labour
Council for many years.
André ran for Québec
solidaire in the riding
of Crémazie.