03) PQ GOVERNMENT YIELDS TO POPULAR DEMANDS

By Johan Boyden, Montreal

     The newly elected Parti Québécois (PQ) minority government led Pauline Marois has swept away key austerity and anti-environmental policies of the Charest Liberals.

     The PQ government has cancelled the massive tuition fee hikes; repealed Bill 78 which put severe restrictions on civil, labour and democratic rights; and cancelled (and reimbursed) the new $200 health tax. This satisfied three out of four main demands of the student‑labour "Red Hand" Coalition at the core of the student strike mobilizations last spring.

     An announcement on the Coalition's fourth major demand, stopping the increase in Hydro fees, is expected soon. However, as the Coalition said, "in the context of minority government, the fate of some [PQ] measures depend on the support received by the Liberal Party or the [ultra‑right] Coalition Avenir Quebec (CAQ), two parties that openly advocate the user‑fees and the privatization of public services, and austerity measures [...] the business community and think tanks use the right‑wing media platforms they have to decry tax measures to contribute more to big business and the wealthy."

     "Mobilization remains necessary now, not only to avoid setbacks but to go further in the implementation of a better redistribution of wealth in order to for the growing social inequalities," said Regine Laurent, President of the FIQ Nurses Union and a spokesperson for the Red Hand Coalition.

     The PQ is also proposing retro‑active taxation on high‑income earners and businesses, drawing opposition from pro‑corporate forces.

     Student organizations hailed the announcements, but noted that the PQ is planning a mass‑consultation with the people of Quebec, so it may advocate for an increase at a slower rate. The ASSE and its broader CLASSE alliance are heading to convention to determine strategy, and if the CLASSE formation should continue. One proposal is for a cross‑Canada campaign against the Harper Conservative policy on education and youth issues.

     Marois' new cabinet members say they will scrap a loan to revive Quebec's last asbestos mine, raise royalties on mining, re‑draw the Plan Nord, close the widely criticized Gentilly‑2 nuclear station, and continue the moratorium on shale gas and hydraulic fracturing.

     "I don't foresee a day when there will be technology that will allow safe exploitation [of shale gas]," Natural Resources Minister Martine Ouellet told CTV News, adding: "Our position is very clear: we want a complete moratorium, not only on exploitation but also on exploration of shale gas."

     Marois distanced herself from Ouellet's remarks but said she would close down Gentilly‑2. Located close to Trois‑Rivieres, Gentilly‑2 is the only nuclear station in Quebec and generates less than 4% of provincial electric power. Environmentalists point to studies showing higher rates of cancer, up to 70 km away.

(The above article is from the October 1-15, 2012, issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $30/year, or $15 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $45 US per year; other overseas readers - $45 US or $50 CDN per year. Send to People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver, BC, V5L 3J1.)