Heavy-handed police tactics in Montréal

By J. Boyden

On March 22, I was unexpectedly kettled by Montreal police at a student demonstration together with about 60 protestors. We have all been charged a $625 fine for participating in the "illegal protest," held to mark the anniversary of the start of last year's student strike. Almost 600 arrests have been made in Québec over the past few weeks.

Kettling, also known as corralling, is an increasingly used tactic of mass detention. Police ‑ often in riot gear ‑ will cordon off a street, blocking all exits, and then arrest everyone in between.

In our case, the police announced the demonstration was illegal at exactly the same time as the kettle began. There was five minutes of chaos and panic, then about three hours of limbo.

When riot police charge a crowd they exploit the moment for maximum intimidation. They dress in black, faces covered, holding round shields and pounding them in drum beat. You can hear their stomping heavy boots.

My partner and I turned just before the charge. We were looking for the rest of the Young Communist League, who had fortunately escaped just in time as two lines of riot cops blocked either side of the street. Then an officer smashed his baton across my knuckles ‑ throw down your banner! Moments later we heard the police captain scream at one officer: "stop being so gentle with them!"

Within a few minutes we were backed up against a large store (ironically a travel agency) and shoved into a knot of people. It had been a sunny afternoon when the protest began. But after half‑an‑hour in the kettle it started to get dark. Then it started to snow. A cold wind whistled down the street.

Several shift‑changes of the riot cops surrounding us took place, including a team of horse police at one point. I heard a young woman's teeth start to chatter. "Please just arrest me!" she said. She was wearing in a thin jacket, black polka dot skirt, and heels. Almost three hours...

Finally an all‑female team of officers arrived, processed us for about four minutes each, and doled out the fines. We were shoved across a yellow police cordon. Go! Get lost!

The charges may be dropped, thrown out or defeated in court. The bylaw we were charged under is P‑6, a complimentary municipal regulation brought in basically at the same time as the Charest Liberal's anti‑democratic Bill 78.

Like that now abolished law, P‑6 is almost certainly a violation of our constitutional rights. But that isn't the point. Through our detention we have already been punished.

Québec Solidaire has renewed its calls for a public inquiry, and the progressive ASSÉ student union has condemned the new wave of arrests, which began at the annual march against police brutality.

At the beginning of last year's student struggle the YCL made a conscious decision to actively participate in as many demonstrations as we could, including those declared "illegal" under Bill 78, but to join in a disciplined way because there was nothing to be gained from an arrest and restrictive bail conditions.

At our last YCL meeting we checked‑in about our policy towards arrests, which are sometimes viewed romantically as badges of honour in the youth and student movement. Our approach remained unchanged. But in just a few days Nicolas, our club organizer, Marianne, our magazine editor, myself and another member of our new club at a French‑language college have all been arrested and charged.

What has changed? The demonstrations are smaller now, but the force of the police has stayed the same and thus is proportionally much greater. Our ruling class opponents are well aware the student movement is still re‑grouping and somewhat tired. They are giving us a hard kick while we are down.

Seeming to recognize the intention was to break morale, our kettle held up a proud face. First we launched into the familiar chants. Then, as the temperature dropped, the group began to hold "jumping" to warm up. I saw an elderly man (somebody said he was a university professor) make a few smiling leaps. Anarchopanda ‑ the CEGEP professor who dresses in a giant panda suit ‑ was also there, as well as one of the "Rabbit Crew" who wear bunny‑eared masks to demos. It was like a reunion.

A hip hop artist came forward and began to rhyme. People started to dance. A drummer and a man with a cow bell joined in the music. Then the entire kettle was moving, bouncing around a circle. Somebody began singing popular songs. Classics from Quebec and France, from the 1940s, 50s, 60s and 70s. Soon we were all singing. Near the end we took a group photo. It seemed somehow appropriate.

Johan Boyden is the General Secretary of the Young Communist League of Canada

Call-out to the second-annual YCL-LJC student conference

Saturday, January 12, 2013

Open only to members of the YCL-LJC or by invitation

1. We believe in the principle that the student movement is one of the most radical, dynamic and progressive forces for change in society and the future.

2. The uprisings of students in the Middle East and North Africa, the brave united battles of the Chilean students, and the massive struggle in Quebec last winter and spring have shown the validity of the optimistic claim that the young people, united with the working class, are continuously an important catalytic force for social transformation, overthrow and revolution.

3. At the same time, new, contradictory and even confusing developments are taking place internationally and locally. We believe that the student movements in Quebec and English-speaking Canada are at a difficult but significant and even historic juncture.  At stake is our basic access to education.

Quebec news and updates

Labour opposes Harper’s EI reforms
The major trade union centrals of Quebec and the MASSE coalition, a group formed in solidarity with the unemployed, held a series of mass rallies with the biggest one in the town of Thetford Mines in late October. Over 3,000 people from about twelve towns and cities from across Quebec marched to the offices of Christian Paradis, MP for Mégantic-L'Érable (and Stephen Harper's Quebec lieutenant).  Coordinator of MASSE Marie-Hélène Arruda told the rally that "The Conservatives, with their ideology [...] will define by regulation what is a decent job, that is to say a position that an unemployed person cannot refuse for fear of losing their benefits.”

Student legal struggle continues
Drawing attention to the hundreds of students still facing charges from the Quebec student uprising last fall, former spokesperson of the CLASSE, Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois, was convicted November 1 of contempt of court because he publicly criticized a court injunction ordering picket-lines to disperse during the student strike. The judge (who has been linked as a donor to the former Charest Liberal government) based his ruling on a 1972 court decision which tried to smash the Common Front of public sector unions. A support campaign has been launched at www.appelatous.org to fundraise for an appeal.  Meanwhile, the PQ government have announced an education summit to take place in mid-February, with preparatory meetings and consultations starting at the end of November, about the question of post-secondary education funding.

Corruption inquiry exposes P3s
More revelations have been coming forward at the Charbonneau Commission, especially the testimony of ex-construction boss Lino Zambito which has implicated the Liberal party, as well as their political machines on the municipal level and construction firms, into a web of graft with the Mafia.  Media headlines have focused on Montreal mayor Gérald Tremblay’s resignation, the implosion of his Union Montreal party, and now the Mayor of Laval quitting. But the Montreal Gazette has also said that Zambito reported “Public-private partnerships, the sort that are blooming in Quebec to yield hospitals, roads and cultural facilities, are fertile ground for corruption and collusion” because, once big consortiums are ‘awarded’ the contract, the only risk is held by the public sector. One of the biggest P3 projects in Quebec, the McGill University Health Centre, has long been a target of criticism by labour and is currently under police investigation.

QS co-spokesperson steps down
The long standing co-spokesperson of the left-wing political party Quebec Solidaire has stepped down. Amir Khadir was the first “Solidaire” elected to the Quebec National Assembly and the founding leader of the predecessor of QS, the Union of Progressive Forces – which was formed as a federation of left groups including the Communist Party of Quebec.  Khadir will maintain his seat in the National Assembly. Québec solidaire's constitution requires two national spokespersons: one from the legislature and a second from outside it, called a "porte-parole extra-parlementaire", who is not an MNA. The latter also assumes the role of president of the party. A young person is expected to be chosen.

The case of officer 728

As progressive-minded activists look back on the past months of protest, a bitter reminder of the police violence and repression has come forward in the form of what is being called "Le cas de l'agente 728."


Officer 728 of the Montreal police, Madame Stefanie Trudeau, was widely condemned last spring for her excessive use of force against student demonstrators (see photo at left). While hardly unique, the incident was caught on YouTube. Now, in a video and audio recording presented by Radio-Canada, the violent arrest of four people, for reasons still unclear, by Trudeau has also been exposed.

Home invasion

In the video, Officer 728 with other police invade a residence and grab an individual by the throat, chocking him. The assault took place on October 2nd, when Rudy Orchietti, a resident of Plateau Mont-Royal, opened the door to some musician friends who came to his apartment on rue Papineau, not far from down town Montreal.

Orchietti has a beer in his hands. He is standing on the sidewalk by the door. At that moment, Officer 738 launches into action. Things quickly become chaotic and violent. Orchietti is arrested. When a friend intervenes the police lash out. They force their way into the apartment as if on a hunt. The friend is caught -- pinned by the neck and immobilized.

Officer 728 then confiscated the cell phones of those arrested, but triggered involuntarily a recording on one phone. In the conversation she had with her supervisor, broadcast on Radio-Canada, she speaks of rats referring to the people in the apartment, the fucking red squares, and asshole artists. "I didn't pepper spray them," Officer 728 adds, even though she "was on the edge" -- but fear she would wind up on TV again prevented her.

QS demands more


The SPVM apologized for the "disturbing" images and suspended Officer 728 during an internal investigation. But left-wing political party Québec solidaire expressed distrust of the ethics committee studying this case.

"These committees are composed mainly of former police officers. They are not independent enough, "says MNA Amir Khadir. "We must also tackle the root of the problem, the culture of permissiveness... This culture is of "racial profiling" and "social profiling." And also the lack of accountability," he said.




The violence comes after renewed calls, this time by teachers and educators, for a public investigation into the police violence of last spring and summer.

Over 3000 arrests in Quebec

During the massive mobilization by the Quebec student movement which grew to include widespread public support, and coming less than two years after the brutal G20 protests in Toronto, Quebec was witness to the biggest wave of police repression in recent history, marked by 3387 arrests from February 16th to the 3rd of September, 2012.


(Several of these arrests took place during the notorious "kettle" tactic for which Montreal Police Department (SPVM) have been criticized by the United Nations’ Council of Human Rights. Often these arrests were carried out in a brutal manner, the prison conditions were harsh and they were not permitted to talk to a lawyer or relatives.)

Police brutality also inflicted numerous injuries on demonstrators including, two eyes lost, teeth broken, a fractured skull, as well as broken arms and legs. "Media reports and on-line videos revealed that the police forces generally seemed animated by a profound contempt for students, expressed by the insults, often sexist and homophobic," educator Francis Dupuis-Déri wrote in Le Devoir.


A broader problem

Police brutality is widespread across Canada, compounded by the "law and order" and "war on terror" rhetoric of right-wing politicians and the corporate media, who consistently glorify the police and attempt to justify police crimes.

For example, since November 11, 1987, when Officer Allan Gosset killed Anthony Griffin, police in Montreal have killed at least 37 people. Most have gone unpunished, as coroners, prosecutors, and cabinet ministers cooperate to protect the cops.    The situation in Montreal is not improving. Moroccan immigrant Mohamed Anas Bennis left his Montreal mosque at 6:30 am on Dec. 1, 2005. At 7:20 am, at the corner of Kent Street and Cote-Des-Neiges, he was shot twice and killed by a police officer. The shooting took place during a joint operation by the Montreal police, Quebec Provincial Police, and the RCMP, allegedly targeting "Algerian scam artists" linked to "international terrorism."

Quebec City police were assigned to investigate the killing, starting a process which can only be described as a cover-up. Eleven months later, it was announced that no charges would be laid, since there was "no evidence" that a criminal act had occurred.

In this context the Young Communist League has stepped-up its call for civilian and community control over police and prisons, ending racial profiling by police, and the dismantlement of the RCMP and CSIS.

Quebec election: people give no clear mandate to any party

The election rally of Quebec Solidaire

J. Boyden

A shorter version of the article will be published in the upcoming issue of People`s Voice newspaper

Quebec voters headed to the polls on Sept. 4th for a historic election, coming after a series of major storms of popular discontent had swept the province --  outrage over corruption scandals and opposition against the Liberal government’s austerity budgets, which exploded during last spring’s student strike. But the final results saw no party come out with a clear mandate, as the Liberals, including party leader Jean Charest, went down to defeat while voters granted a slim minority government to the Parti Québécois (PQ) led by Pauline Marois.

The PQ has already announced that its first act will be to cancel the tuition fee hike and abolish repressive law 78, which effectively criminalized the student strikers.  Positively, their party platform also called to abolish tuition increases until 2018, eliminate the health tax, reconsider additional fees for Hydro Quebec usage, increase taxes and fees on natural resource exploitation, expand daycare spaces, and enact Employment Insurance reforms by repatriating EI to Quebec.

Marois’ PQ, however, is nine seats short of a majority to implement this agenda, sitting at 54 Members of the National Assembly (MNAs).  The outgoing Liberals held on to 50 seats in the 125-member National Assembly while François Legault’s new ultra-right and populist Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ) expanded from 9 to 19 seats. The progressive Quebec Solidaire (QS) party also increased its seat count to two MNAs and is expected to again have a bigger presence in the National Assembly beyond its small numbers.

Voter turnout

Speaking to People’s Voice about the analysis of the Quebec vote break-down which will be published in the next issue of the Communist Party of Quebec’s newspaper Clarté, editor Robert Luxley drew attention to voter participation and the strong mobilization by right-wing forces during the election.

At almost 75 per cent, turn-out in the election broke all recent records of votes in the last ten years, approaching levels similar to the 1998 election (following the second referendum on Quebec’s independence).

Law & Order

On the one hand, as leaked Liberal strategy documents confirmed shortly before the election was called, Charest pursued a cavalier approach of provocation and intransigence towards the student strike for months, hoping to create the basis of for a campaign of fear where they represented law and order, and stability.

On the eve of calling the election the Liberal message shifted to one of blackmail, threatening voters with a political and economic catastrophe if the PQ won and called another referendum.

In the squeeze

On the other hand, unable to avoid convening a commission on corruption scandals due to public outrage, Charest effectively set the timeline for the election when his government convened that commission and established its schedule.  In the end the Liberal’s were squeezed by the student protests – conditions which also favored the PQ.

The pressure from the people’s forces, unleashed as the student struggle broadened into a popular movement, pushed the PQ into adopting a progressive-sounding agenda, to avoid losing votes.  Without the student mobilizations it is probable that the PQ platform would have more accurately reflected their true political identity, a nationalist party of small and large-scale business and not a left party.

Voter break-down

While the higher voter participation no doubt included many new young voters, who also turned to Quebec Solidaire and helped double the popular vote of QS, another large component of high participation came from ridings where the CAQ won.  Often these were in places where the populist ADQ had made gains in the past.

The Liberal’s received 31.2% and the CAQ 27% of the popular vote, eating into the PQ, which received 31.95%, while QS won just over 6%. Thus the division of the right helps explain the victory of the PQ.

Liberal vote

Although the Liberal’s received basically the same total number of votes as the last election (only 5,000 votes less), it was their lowest percentage of the popular vote since Confederation because of the high participation of the people in the election. The Liberals won seats in Quebec City and the regions, but the lions-share of their seats came from Greater Montreal, the Gatineau-Hull area, and the Eastern Townships -- not surprising given that they were the only Federalist party in the election.

An opinion poll conducted by Le Devoir suggested the primary reason Liberal voters chose that party was to voice opposition to the PQ and support Canadian unity, as well as economic stability – rather than the actual values of the party.

National question still burns

Conservative Prime Minister Steven Harper responded to the Quebec election by concluding the vote suggested debate about the national question should now be shut-down. This stiffening of democratic discussion about Quebec’s future is unlikely to happen, however, given the reactionary framework that federalism imposes, as well as continued chauvinism from the corporate media and some Anglophones.

As a case in point, the PQ election victory celebrations were tragically interrupted when a man attempted to set fire to the theatre venue and shot two people, killing a stagehand. As he was arrested he yelled incoherently about the how the English-speakers are now “waking-up.”

The attack was “an isolated act of madness, but it was nevertheless triggered by the socio-political [context]” the Société Saint-Jean-Baptiste said in a statement, calling on the English-language corporate media to tone-down their rhetoric which has labeled soveriegntist voices during the election “Franco-supremacist,” “intolerant,” “anglophobes,” “close-minded idiots,” who “despise minorities” etc.  Comments on some English-language newspaper websites, expressed regret that the gun man was not successful to “kill the bitch”, and other hate speech.

QS makes gains

At the election rally of Quebec Solidaire, held not far from the PQ’s event, newly elected MNA Françoise David congratulated Marois on her election as the first women premier and vowed to work together on any policy the PQ might advance in support of women’s rights, the environment, labour, and other social issues. 

It is more likely however that the PQ will now try to find an excuse to shift away from its election promises and form an alliance with the right. Another election is almost certain well before four years – which has also lead the NDP to officially drop its plan to build a provincial party, good news for QS.

David will now join QS MNA Amir Khadir in Quebec City, meaning that both of QS’s spokespeople will be in the National Assembly, representing back-to-back ridings in urban Montreal. An evaluation of the election by Quebec’s voter-reform coalition suggested that under a Mixed-Member Proportional system, QS would hold 8 seats.  While the actual result is perhaps not as much as that party wished, QS made still important gains and finished second place in at least three other Montreal ridings. 

Marianne Breton Fontaine, the leader of the Young Communist League of Quebec, doubled the popular vote for QS in the riding of Acadie, coming in with almost 2,500 votes and 8%. 

In an upcoming article we will look at the response of labour and people`s movements to the election.

Quebec heads to crucial vote

Marianne Breton Fontaine, leader of the
Young Communist League of Quebec,
is running for Quebec Solidaire

A shorter version of this article by J. Boyden will be published in the September issue of People's Voice newspaper.

As Québec approaches a crucial election on September 4, the majority of students have decided to halt their long‑lasting strike mobilization that helped trigger the vote.

     About 60,000 students remain on strike according to the militant student union la CLASSE (as of Aug. 21). Most strike votes saw long and intense debates about strategy and tactics. On most campuses, between twenty and forty per cent of students supported continued strike action.  The student's are expected to come back to the question after the election.

     In explaining the vote, the CLASSE pointed to the intense pressure faced by students. Repressive Bill 78 is now Law 12, which bans any kind of strike action (even symbolic) imposing harsh fines both on students, their unions, teachers, and post‑secondary institutions that don't obey the law. Many schools told students that if they voted for a continued strike everyone would receive a failing grade for the semester.

And it seems that this threat is now very real. The 60,000 students who have voted to continue the strike may have their session canceled.

Election battle in full swing

     There is also concern that continued strike action might backfire and actually help the Charest Liberals' "law and order" platform. Polls indicate the Liberals' major challenge is from the pro‑business Parti Québécois (PQ) headed by Pauline Marois. In third place is Francois Legault's ultra‑right Coalition for Québec's Future (CAQ). The main idea of that party is to put the national question on hold for ten years, and create an alliance of the right to attack labour, social movements, environmentalists and Quebec's social programmes in general.  (You can read more about these political parties on RY blog here).

     The big parties have tried to focus on economic development with Plan Nord, and the continued debate about secularism and "reasonable accommodation" (with Quebec culture and immigration) and corruption. But the pressure of the spring's massive popular student struggle refuses to go away.

QS stands out

     The progressive party most strongly identified with the cause of the students, labour and social movements is Québec Solidaire (QS). As one of its star ideas, QS would "eliminate all fees charged to students and their parents when attending any public or parapublic institutions from preschool to university" as part of social project for a progressive and more democratic Quebec.  In election debate, QS was the only party to wear the Red Square symbol of the students.

     Led by co‑spokespeople Dr. Amir Khadir (its one MNA, elected provincially in the Motnreal riding of Mercier) and feminist activist Francoise David, QS hopes to pick up seats in the vote and elect a strong block in the National Assembly. Québec Solidaire is the party with the most women candidates (62 female and 62 male; only 28.1% of all candidates in this election are women), and the party's website lists fourteen candidates who are trade unionists.

Time to stand-up!

     Their campaign slogan roughly translates as 'stand up.' The QS platform advocates many immediate demands that are similar to the policies of the Communist Party of Canada, including:

• Create a universal public drug insurance plan and "Pharma-Québec", a public pharmaceutical acquisition and production centre, and stopping privatization of health care;

• Amend anti‑scab legislation to prevent all indirect use of employees by the employer involved in a labour dispute as well as the use of production by alleged volunteers, and ban both lockouts and recourse to injunctions against picketing;

• Plant‑closure legislation, including financial penalties, forced payment of pensions, and the nationalization of solvent companies converting them to workers' cooperatives.

• Opposition to the Comprehensive Economic Trade Agreement (CETA) and the North American Free Trade Agreement;

• Reinforce and re‑establish a progressive tax system, with exceptions for the lowest income brackets, and introducing tax brackets for corporations, as well as reducing tax incentives and eliminating tax loop‑holes.

• Nationalize the strategic resources for which Québec has extraction and exploitation technical expertise, especially certain raw materials and energy‑related resources.

• Electoral reform including mixed‑member proportional representation.

     Broad but consistent emphasis is put on social justice and equity issues. The QS platform calls to create 40,000 new childcare spaces, shifting private facilities into the public sector, and expanding the hours during which childcare centres operate, to support parents working in non‑standard jobs.

     QS calls for the Québec National Assembly to pass and apply, without conditions, the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

     The platform proposes 50,000 new universally accessible social housing units (public, cooperative, or communal), a guaranteed minimum income starting at $12,000 a year, and a universal Québec pension plan.

     A Québec Solidaire government would advocate reducing greenhouse gas emissions by at least 40% compared to 1990 levels by 2020 and by 95% by 2050. Proposals in this direction include nationalizing wind power, expanding public transit and electrifying transit, banning the exploration and production of fossil fuels (oil, shale gas) and working towards the abandonment of fossil energy consumption by 2030.

     The party calls for a food sovereignty policy that will favour sustainable development of resources, and protect access to clean water as a social right.

Star candidates
   
    The party has attracted some controversy throughout the campaign. Former Federal Bloc leader Gilles Ducept launched into a vicious personal attack at co-leader Amir Khadir early in the campaign.  Corporate media commentators have also seized on the fact that in downtown Montreal the roster of QS candidates includes long-time Queer activist Manon Masse, whose poster was not air-brushed to obscure her facial hair.

   In the north of Montreal, anti-police brutality campaigner Will Prosper is also running for QS, who has attracted attention beyond Quebec for his outspoken criticism of racial profiling and the police murder of unarmed Honduran-Quebec youth Fredy Villanueva.

   Other star candidates in Montreal include Alexandre Leduc in Hochelaga-Maisonneuve, a former student activist and organizer with the FTQ trade union central, and leftist anti-poverty activist and Chilean-Quebeker Andrés Fontecilla who is runing in Laurier-Dorion.

QS, the PCQ and the future of Quebec

    Like the Communist Party, the QS calls to strengthen enforcement of the Charter of the French Language (Loi 101) in all work environments, countering the current direction of increasing exceptions to this law that have allowed a growing number of workplace orders to be again given in English.

     QS has a somewhat concurrent but different emphasis and vision from the CPC when it comes to the question of Québec's future.  The relationship between the two parties goes back to the ancestor of QS, the Union of Progressive Forces (UFP). The UFP was formed following the major anti-globalization protests in Quebec City, as a coalition of several left groups including the PCQ.

     In the long-term, QS calls for a society that moves 'beyond capitalism.'  While this ambiguous phrase is not prominent on the QS website, the campaign is talking about the current experience of Bolivia, Venezuela and Latin America in general as an example of social transformation for Quebec.

    In its interventions about this question, the Communist Party of Quebec (PCQ) has similarly called for QS to develop further towards a united front of labour and social movements around the most advanced and broad left-progressive basis of unity possible -- ie. a democratic, anti-monopoly and anti-imperialist platform, rather than socialism.  The clear orientation of the PCQ is towards socialism and it supports QS as the most helpful within the current context.

   As a founding member of the UFP and QS, the PCQ's approach is also not the same as so-called "enterism" where a radical left group (especially a Trotskist grouping) will join a social democratic political party in order to split that formation and win a large pro-socialist organization. The PCQ views QS in a very different strategic framework of a united front at the present juncture, based on its evaluation of the class struggle in Quebec.

Quebec independence

     The Communist Party of Quebec also has a long history of defending Québec's right, as a nation in Canada, to sovereignty and self‑determination, up to and including the right of separation. (You can read the programme of the Communist Party here). The PCQ proposes a new equal partnership of the Aboriginal peoples, Québec and English-speaking Canada in a confederal republic, with a new constitution enshrining the right to sovereignty.

     Like the PCQ, Quebec Solidaire also rejects the status‑quo of federalism and proposes a strategy that is more or less complimentary: an elected constituent assembly to be convened so that Québec would democratically decide its own future and draft a new constitution:

Québec solidaire recognizes the Quebecers’ right to choose its institutions and its political status. [...] The Constituent Assembly will: be elected by universal franchise, made up of an equal number of women and men and representative of tendencies, different socio-economic backgrounds, and the cultural diversity present in Québec society; conduct a far-reaching, participatory democratic process to consult the population of Québec on: the values, rights, and principles upon which community life should be based; the political status of Québec; the definition of its institutions; heir delegated powers, responsibilities, and resources; develop, from the outcome of the consultation, one or more proposals which will be put to the population in a referendum.

     However, like the majority of the left in Québec (but not the PCQ), QS sees the process of sovereignty as a road to independence. It's platform makes it clear that "Throughout the process, Québec solidaire will advocate for creating a sovereign Quebec state, without assuming what the outcome of the debates will be."

    The line between these two formulations -- summarized by leader Amir Khadir in a phrase that translates as "[QS thinks] indepedance is necessary, but [the result of the process we propose will] not necessarily [be] independence" -- may seem very thin or academic to out-of-province political observers. But within Quebec, this issue is explosive. The fact that QS claims to be a pro-sovereignty party and yet also wants to initiate a process that might not lead to separation (and instead a fundamentally different yet united relationship with Canada) has resulted in polemical denunciations from other nationalist forces like L'Aut' Journal.

     More than in previous campaigns, QS sometimes comes close to putting independence as an objective in itself, which is the approach of the Parti Québécois -- demanding seperation not as a way to social progress (which is the QS' stated policy) but as a means to an end. The platform says QS "will set in motion from the day it takes office a constituent assembly process" and in the televised debates, Françoise David tried to put the leader of the PQ on the spot, asking her when a referendum would take place. QS is clear, she said, that the ball will be set into motion within their first year.

     But is that the main priority task? The PCQ positively views the continued split of the nationalist camp away from the big business PQ and behind a sort of people's agenda of social demands. Placing greater emphasis on such struggle will help develop class consciousnesses that could convince people to understand the national project in a different framework of class solidarity and unity.

    While agreeing that the sovereignty of Quebec is a fundamental question that must be addressed and solved, the PCQ puts much greater immediate priority on uniting all the people of Quebec to confront and reverse the "class war" being waged by the capitalists against the people.  The PCQ also points out the serious danger to both Québec and English-speaking Canada from US imperialism that comes with the path of recognizing sovereignty through Independence, and instead calls for an equal and voluntary partnership of the working class and its allies in both Québec and English‑speaking Canada, united in the struggle for social transformation against our common enemy -- big business.

    Despite this difference, the choice for those looking for a strong left party is clear. (The QS program is available in English here.)


Option nationale

     Another party presenting a left-sounding platform is Option nationale (ON), which currently holds one seat in the Quebec National Assembly. ON is a dissident split from the PQ, and likely believes that PQ is on the edge of break-up -- which could be true if that party fails again to win another election. ON broke from the PQ in order to advance a more immediate and assertive trajectory towards Quebec independence than the PQ is currently prepared to take, and waits in the wings to succeed as the true party of separation.

     ON's platform is arguably a cheap copy and paste job from Quebec Solidaire, hoping to attract young voters who are pro-independence. The party is calling for nationalization of natural resources, free education (from kindergarten to PhD), abolition of nuclear energy in Quebec, a moratorium on shale gas operations, Pharma Quebec (a new crown corporation which will aim to reduce pharmaceutical costs in Quebec), construction of a monorail electric suspended between cities, and implementation of proportional representation in Quebec.

     ON's generally progressive rhetoric most likely reflects an opportunist sentiment. The main social basis of support for a "fast-lane" strategy of independence is from left-leaning voters.  While ON advocates for a pro-independence coalition government, it has vigorously attacked QS at the same time for its strategy stating that "All political programmes corresponding with the interests of Quebec will never be fully realized in the Canadian context. For us, independence is not maybe necessary, it is essential."

    This has left more than a few political observers wondering that if the ruling class had wanted to invent a rival party to split the QS vote, could they have done better? In fact, ON is headed by Jean-Martin Aussant a former PQ Member of the National Assembly (MNA) who is worked as a vice-president of Morgan Stanley Capital International in London, England. As an PQ MNA, Aussant was finance critic  -- a difficult position from which to jump into "left field."

Restrictions on "Third Parties"

     Québec`s election law severely restricts interventions by organizations not officially registered as so-called "third parties." The Liberals have demanded investigation of student groups. One blogger has been forced to take down her site because it was critical of the ruling party, and a labour union central has removed videos critical of the Liberals.

     The Communist Party of Québec (PCQ) is also in this position. The PCQ has issued a statement critically examining the flaws of strategic voting and the connection between electoral struggle and struggle on the streets.

     Marianne Breton Fontaine, who ran for the Communist Party of Canada in the last federal election, is a candidate under the Québec Solidaire banner in Acadie. This riding is currently held by the Liberal Minister of Culture who waded into the student struggle last spring, accusing a famous soft‑spoken Québec storyteller of endorsing "violence and terrorism" by wearing the red square.

Looming election challenge in Quebec

Yaba daba doo! says one caption of this photo on the internet, which pictures Quebec Premier Jean Charest 

By Johan Boyden, Montreal
An earlier version of this article appeared in People's Voice Newspaper.

The community of Trois Pistoles along the northern banks of the St. Lawrence river is known for its picturesque beauty and historic links to Basque whalers, who travelled there hundreds of years ago from Spain.

Now it has become a symbol of the pre‑election polarization and fear‑mongering going on in Québec.

An ecological festival in the town, put on by community activists including some who have been fighting high‑risk shale gas development in the region, wanted to invite student leaders to speak at their event.

A storm of controversy erupted. Mayor Jean‑Pierre Rioux met with organizers and threatened to withdraw all funding. "Around here, people think that [student leader] Gabriel Nadeau‑Dubois is [...] like Maurice `Mom' Boucher" one festival organizer said.

Mom Boucher is, of course, the convicted rapist, drug dealer and murderer who leads the Montreal Hells Angels.

Québec's governing Liberal Party is expected to announce a provincial election, likely on September 4th (just before the return of the anti‑corruption commission that has implicated the party with Mafia kick‑backs through the construction industry).


While the province has been shaken by months of student protest that have witnessed a strong public outpouring of support for the students, particularly in working class Montreal communities, Québec elections are not held on the basis of proportional representation.

Instead, the riding system, divided along regional, economic and national lines, can craftily distort public opinion. Not to mention that elections are a multi‑million dollar horse race today.

Even though they have a nationalist wing, the Liberals are the only clearly federalist party on the political map. Going into the race they are "guaranteed" almost all the ridings in Montreal's West Island, where the Anglo minority will not consider a party leaning towards independence (or any other forms of sovereignty that could be guaranteed in a new democratic Constitution).

Of course, the unexpected can happen ‑ like the turn to the NDP by Québec voters in the last federal election. But that phenomenon was much more about a strategy to block the Harper Tories than a re‑evaluation of the national question.


Many commentators say the outcome hangs on ten or maybe just six ridings where the Liberals won by a whisker ‑ sometimes by a lead of one percent and less than a hundred votes. The Minister of Education has said she will not seek re‑election, no doubt expecting she would lose.

One hope of the Liberals is that the ultra‑right Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ) party will to cut into the votes of the pro‑corporate Parti Québécois (PQ). The CAQ's big idea is to put aside the "divisive" national question for several years and unite the right (federalist and nationalist alike, under a populist framework) to attack labour and social programmes -- an approach which has shown to be a clear "basis of unity" for cooperation with the Liberal government's anti-people attacks in the National Assembly.


Because of their links to the Quebec nationalist movement, the CAQ also pose little threat to the Liberal's voting base who view them with hesitancy. As if to confirm suspicions, the CAQ booted a right-wing businessman from its candidate list after he said the Quebec nationalist movement was racist against immigrants. 

The big Liberal guns are, therefore, turning to take aim at the PQ. One black-and-white attack ad -- already viral -- presents the leader of that party in slow motion, banging on a casserole, although Pauline Marois has officially put away her red square.

Some compare this ballot choice to the frying pan and the fire. The Communist Party of Québec is supporting the left-coalition party Québec Solidaire.

Low voter turnout will also help the Liberals, who are counting on their "law and order" or "strong leadership in a crisis" message.
Even the government`s own arms‑length Human Rights and Youth Rights Commission recently condemned the special law forcing the return of students to class this month, saying it was a violation of the fundamental freedoms safeguarded by the Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms. But Law 78 was always an election strategy, and there is a real danger it may bear fruit.

Which brings us back to communities like Trois Pistoles, where the militant CLASSE student union is compared to organized crime.

The CLASSE has been running a tour across Québec promoting their manifesto for democracy (see page 6), and weaving together the struggles of the people within the framework of defeating the Liberals. On July 22, CLASSE organized another mass demonstration, estimated at between 30,000 and 80,000 in size. (That same day, police arrested the two spokespeople of a student mobilization in Ottawa, including a member of the Young Communist League.)

The Liberals have asked the Director General of elections to investigate the students in case they are making election expenses.

The other two student federations have targeted specific ridings, basically advocating for the PQ. The past‑president of the college student federation will be a PQ candidate.

The election will be a challenge for the people's movements. There is a need to continue the mobilization in the streets while not falling into the "anti‑politics" trap of pretending the vote does not exist. Whatever the outcome, it should not be seen as a blank cheque for any party. This was the message delivered at a summer BBQ discussion organized by the Young Communist League of Québec (LJC‑Q) in late July.

The meeting heard a report‑back on a very successful ten campus tour in Ontario by Québec student activists including the leader of the LJC‑Q, Marianne Breton Fontaine, organized by the Canadian Federation of Students (CFS) Ontario. People chuckled when they learnt the National Post had labelled the tour a vector of the Québec protest "virus."

The tour was a concrete expression of solidarity by the CFS towards the Québec students. About a thousand students came out in total between Ottawa and Windsor.

Breton Fontaine will also be a candidate for Québec Solidaire in the Montreal riding of Acadie.

In addition to its own platform (which includes the elimination of tuition fees, public pharmacare, nationalization of energy, pay equity, and other demands) Québec Solidaire has responded to a call for a united front against the Liberals with their own two‑point proposal for an alliance: proportional representation and, basically, the abolition of the last austerity budget. Since this is also, on paper, the existing policy of the PQ, it could be the basis for a coalition or accord, but this is just speculation and the PQ have, so far, ignored the offer.

In Quebec, school's out but not the class struggle

Student protest continued on Friday, making another big splash in two places cities at once.

J. Boyden

School is out of session. The students have returned home, leaving their close-knit campus life behind. Young people are in summer jobs – or searching for summer employment, as the youth unemployment rate in Quebec is still one of the highest in Canada. And so the English-language corporate media has a new line about what they`ve mislabelled the Quebec student “boycott.’ The spoilt brats have surrendered. The resistance is melting away.

Anyone who believes that line in Quebec was in for a rude awakening on June 22. That’s when another major demonstration rocked the streets in Montreal, quickly growing in size to become a rumbling, noisy human river running through the downtown. And at the same time, the largest mobilization Quebec City has seen during this five-month struggle also swept through the streets of the historic capital.

Nine-city tour features Rebel Youth writer, CLASSE members and other student leaders

The Quebec student struggle is marching to Ontario!  (Photo: Ottawa and Gatineu student and labour activists join forces meeting on the bridge between these two cities in Ontario and Quebec)A massive student struggle is rocking Quebec, bringing hundreds of thousands of people into the streets for accessible education, democracy and a life with a future.

The chant has been heard around the world -- Student strike, people`s struggle!

Come out and join us for a panel discussion about the Quebec students featuring activists with CLASSE and other student militants from Quebec.

What can student and their allies do in Ontario?


*** NINE-CITY TOUR ACROSS ONTARIO, JULY 12-20 ***

The noise on the street is the sound of struggle!

On s`en casserole! 

J. Boyden

Over the past two months the picture of Quebec is of a people in motion, a river of struggle and solidarity.  That river surged and burst its banks in May with the passing of the repressive Law 78 (read more here, here and here). While June has seen (as everyone expected) a slow-down in the intensity of protests, the resistance has not gone away.

Nor has the police repression abated, evidenced by the arrest of Amir Khadir, member of the Quebec National Assembly for the left-wing coalition party Quebec Solidaire, of which the Communist Party of Quebec (PCQ-PCC) is a member. Khadir was peacefully marching in a casserole protest.

Almost the next morning, around 6:00 am, police raided his house, snatched his student activist daughter and her boyfriend out of bed and paraded them in front of TV cameras, down to the station in hand cuffs.

According to the CLASSE student coalition, wearing the sign of the student and anti-austerity struggle, the red square, for the past few days during the Grand Prix Formula One race has meant your are an open target to have your bags searched each time you enter the subway and sometimes on the street. Le Devoir newspaper did an investigation into this claim and found that, not only were their unidentified journalists with red squares searched, but if they ask questions they were be detained at the police station.

But the spirit of the people has not been dampened. And that resilience is best described through stories about the casserole.

Part 1: How the Quebec government ripped up the student's proposals and walked away from the negotiating table

This document reprints part one of an assessment and summary of the recent negotiations and has been widely circulated among students in Quebec. An important read also for students outside of Quebec, it shows the clash of ideas that is taking place at the negotiation table and major issues of the strike. Written the CLASSE negotiating committee and typed by Carl Oullette last night, the original text is available in French here and, again in French, in PDF here.  RY magazine apologizes for any errors in our rapid translation. The document has been edited and explanations added. We repeat again that this crisis has been created by the government's intransigence, which is shown in black and white in the comments of Quebec Premier Jean Charest below.  Part two is coming soon.

Student leaders from the three main student centrals speak to the press after negotiations
again broke down with the government yesterday following four days of talks in Quebec City.

Assessment and summary of the CLASSE after four days of negotiations.

by Carl Ouellette 
Thursday, 31 May

The CLASSE returns to Quebec for Round 4

For the fourth time, the CLASS was invited back to the negotiation table. On Thursday we recieved a call from Pierre Pilote to tell us that we would meet again after our Congress. On Sunday we had confirmation that the meeting will be held in Quebec City at 14:00. Monday morning we get on board the Justin-négo-mobile. Direction: Quebec City.

Quebec Law 78 is a dangerous club to beat the people!

Hundreds of thousand of demonstrators 

march in the streets of Montreal on May

22, defying  law 78 in what is being called 

the largest civil disobedience action in 

Canadian history

The adoption of Bill 78, May 18, 2012 by the corrupt and reactionary government of Jean Charest (with the support of the ultra‑right party, Coalition Avenir Québec or CAQ), will go down in Canada and Quebec`s history as one of the most serious attacks against civil liberties, fundamental rights and democracy in general.

The attack in Quebec on freedom of speech, assembly, and the right to organize threatens the people across Canada.

We call on labour, students, popular movements and all democratic‑minded people of Quebec and English‑speaking Canada to unite and fight for the preservation of our democratic rights and against Bill 78. A unified and coordinated resistance is the only effective way for the people of Quebec to repeal the Act and to make a break from the policies of austerity,privatization and higher fees. We call to intensify mobilization efforts to organize a general strike in Quebec.

Quebec solidaire calls for independent inquiry into police riot at Victoriaville

Amir Khadir, member of the Quebec National Assembly filed a motion yesterday demanding a public inquiry into the events at Victoriaville this past Friday.

Victoriaville was the seen of a major confrontation and what some have called a police riot as the Quebec provincial police (SQ) used so-called "non-lethal" ammunition against a demonstration of labour, community and student protesters to ensure the security of a meeting of the Quebec Liberal Party.

The motion called for "an independent public inquiry of any link with police to shed light on the causes of serious injuries suffered by citizens at the event." At least three people were injured in the head and face by hard plastic balls. This type of ammunition is responsible for several deaths across the world.

Quebec students are making history

PV Montreal Bureau, May 8, 2012

As Quebec`s historic student struggle enters its 13th week of strike and constant mobilization, the battle has entered a new round. At the beginning of May the provincial Charest Liberals finally sat down with students and other groups to produce an offer that is now being voted on by students at colleges and universities across Quebec.
            But already 18 out of 19 student assemblies have rejected the agreement by significant majorities, suggesting the conflict may be long from over. The Minister of Finance has suggested that ultimately, it may be the voters who resolve this crisis.
            Student demonstrations have not slowed down either. For two weeks now, the students have been marching late into the night from 9 pm to 2 am. Hundreds of demonstrators snake through downtown Montreal, tailed and often blocked by muscular units of riot police who seem eager to gas the protestors or even beat them up.

Free education: Quebec solidaire`s response to the crisis created by the Charest Liberals and the brave struggle of the students

Massive demos have characterized the student struggles

Statement by Québec solidare, a left-wing political party in Québec. Translation by Rebel Youth

QS today unveiled its proposal to resolve the crisis caused by the Liberal government's refusal to establish a dialogue with the student movement.

"The proposal we are presenting today has shown that the rapid and dramatic increase in tuition fees is a political and ideological decision. It is possible to improve university funding without increasing the contribution of young families and middle class -- and do that while freezing tuition. We want to demonstrate that universal access to college is achievable if the government decides to pick up disposable income by requiring the financial institutions to pay their fair share. Currently, the Charest government is essentially offering a carrot to the students [to accept their plan] by increasing their student debt, "says Francoise David, spokesman for QS.

Rapid elimination of school fees

QS makes firm commitments. Government support [must] immediately cancel the $500 increases implimented since 2007 as well as the increase of $ 1,625 over the next five years. Our response to the crisis will see university tuition fees be reduced to zero by 2017-2018. "Against an increase of $ 325 per year, we propose a decrease of $ 325 accompanied by measures to improve the quality of training," says Amir Khadir, MNA for Mercier.

The Situation of Youth and Student movement today

Main Political Resolution, 

YCL-LJC Central Committee

March 18th, 2012

Highlights: 

• The danger of war against Syria and Iran and the need for a peaceful resolution by the people themselves, not imperialism.
• Bill 30 is a direct attack on privacy and civil and democratic by the Harper regime
• The Robo-call scandal must increase our resolve to kick-out the Harper government!
• The CFS Day of Action was a step in the right direction, showing youth fight back
• We express our full support to the BC Teachers Strike and the great solidarity actions of BC high school students
• We send our full solidarity to the growing Quebec student strike and must spread the word!