However, it would apply the tax to all GHG emissions, whatever the source. Adopted unanimously by delegates at the congress of Québec solidaire, November 16, 2019. If one of the spokespeople is a member of the National Assembly, the other spokesperson remains outside of the legislature and holds the party presidency. While Québec Solidaire's platform is rather straight-forward and has clear goals, the party has a hard time convincing the population. To be honest, for Québec solidaire, sovereignty remains our first priority because it is the only way Quebecers will have the means to meet the needs of the population. There is not one proposal that hasn't already been applied in other countries in the world. It was an openly racist act. Are your promises realistic and viable? However, there is a pending request from some members to remove recognition from the collectif Laïcité (secularism) because it has publicly criticized the QS opposition to the government’s Bill 21 denying the right of public employees to wear symbols of their religious belief. The 2018 national assembly election in Québec marked a breakthrough for the Left. The great Uruguayan writer Eduardo Galeano wrote in the early 1970s: “[O]ur region still works as a menial. Their gains would be almost uniformly at the expense of the PQ in east-island ridings. What's the reasoning there? In this context, it is illusory to rely on a Quebec army (an indirect reference to the. Again, these are issues that must be debated in QS. And how successful has the campaign been? A QS predecessor, the Union des forces progressistes (UFP), maintained a moderated on-line forum that allowed members to discuss political ideas and events, and to link to articles of possible interest to other members. Finally, it is worth noting an important decision taken on the last day of the congress following some intense lobbying by, among others, the QS antiracist decolonial collective. The goal is to place that adversary in a situation in which it is unable to achieve its objectives and to make our society politically uncontrollable, ideologically unsubdued, economically unworkable. Québec Solidaire candidate in Laval-des-Rapides Graciela Mateo, who was one of several speakers during the rally, said QS shares the same environmental preoccupations as a large segment of the Quebec population and stands ready to take action. In the fusion agreement with Option nationale (ON) adopted at its previous congress, in December 2017, Québec solidaire committed to aligning its program with that of ON. Comments are welcome while open. Nadeau-Dubois isn't worried, however. No doubt with this scandal in mind, the QS executive decided, shortly before the congress met, to open an internal consultation on the party’s democratic functioning and statutes, and “to draw up an inventory of possible solutions to these problems.” A table was set up in a separate room at the congress to hear some initial submissions by members. It took two attempts, but in the end the Coalition Avenir Québec government got it what it wanted, with the National Assembly passing the controversial Bill 66 into law Thursday evening.The new law will help fast-track 180 infrastructure projects in an attempt to stimulate an economy that is reeling from the effects of COVID-19. These tasks, issued every two weeks (there are nine so far) include such things as collecting signatures, organizing public meetings, lobbying CAQ deputies, etc. Instead, the party practices collective leadership. Instead, its 2018 election platform blames it on “human activity,” not capitalism. It is worth noting that these are among the topics scheduled to be addressed in the debates at the conference on “The Great Transition” to be held next May 21-24 in Montréal. The “Transition to independence” resolution, as adopted with amendments by this QS congress, closely resembles the ON program’s commitment to begin implementing the program of an independent Quebec once elected to office, even before adoption of a new constitution drafted by the constituent assembly.2 The QS resolution provides that a Québec solidaire government, upon being elected, will draft and adopt a transitional framework law under which it may retain or amend any existing federal law to ensure it corresponds more closely to Quebec society, “reaffirming thereby the democratic legitimacy of our only national parliament.” (All quotations are my translation.). The objective is to encourage people to take public transit. Québec Solidaire has also proposed that the provincial government be in the business of internet service provision. •. And, when someone decides to pursue a university education, the burden is worse, as many Quebecers start out in the job market holding thousands of dollars in student debt. Since the beginning, a heated debate has raged within the party over having two spokespersons. A proposal that (inter alia) would end subsidies to fossil energy industries and impose much greater taxes on banks, big business and large private fortunes, the resulting revenues to be applied exclusively to fighting climate change, as well as to “replace the carbon market by regulatory limits on GHG emissions of polluting industries and provide for mandatory and rapid declines on those levels” was defeated by delegates. It was needed for protection of the immense territory of Quebec, its resources and its strategic infrastructures. Québec Solidaire is making a historical commitment to families: put an end to the financial anxiety associated with every school year. The coup in Bolivia was orchestrated by the Bolivian economic elite with the complicity of the Organization of American States (OAS). This orientation draws on the experience of the mass resistance movements against dictatorships, segregation systems or foreign occupations.”, Option A linked the question of national security and defense to “the nature of the state that the Constituent Assembly will want to establish… “From the outset, the constitution of an independent Quebec involves a rupture with the Canadian confederation as an imperialist state, a junior one as it may be. https://globalnews.ca/.../quebec-solidaire-reveals-immigration-platform The current model has two big companies controlling the market. Among the many excellent aspects of the Québec Solidaire platform is a call for the Quebec government to pass a motion opposing “any Canadian imperialist intervention in Afghanistan.”[1] The QS success represents an important advance for the social justice and anti-war movements in both Quebec and English Canada. We also are going to invest massively in public transit infrastructure to make sure that the service is of better quality and that the viability is better. We're going to add a public player just like SaskTel in Saskatchewan to put some competition in that market – and by competing with those two private services, we're going to be able to lower the price of internet by 30 per cent. Now, the cost of a ticket is something that blocks people from taking public transit. Québec Solidaire’s platform touches on 35 points, which would see, among other things a call for Quebec’s independence — which Couture says would accommodate Nunavik’s desire for more autonomy as well. They are sometimes referred to in the media as the de facto co-leaders of the party. We reserve the right to close comments at any time. Carbon taxes are designed to alter consumer behaviour by increasing public awareness of the dangers in existing and rising GHG emissions. This was the major objective of the unified party’s congress that met in the Montréal suburb of Longueuil on November 15-17. The Quebec Liberal Party led by Premier Jean Charest managed to win a plurality of seats, but were reduced to a minority government , Quebec's first in 129 years, since the 1878 general election . 578 likes. “The adoption of these transitional measures,” writes Bernard Rioux in Presse-toi à gauche, “demonstrates the determination of a QS government to embark on the road to independence beginning with its initial mandate… It is an election that will have given it the mandate to launch the process.”“[T]he transition might be defined as a situation in which Quebec is no long under total domination of the federal state and not yet really independent.”. It will be composed only of Indigenous members, and will be mandated initially to define its structures, and to declare its views on the existing party program and any issue “within an inter-sectional perspective” at all levels of the party. Its present program fails lamentably in this regard. (See more signup options. That platform, Now or Never, was never debated in the membership.5. Prohibit any proposed oil and gas exploitation or exploration on Quebec territory, Propose a plan to enable Quebec to attain the GHG reduction targets of the international panel of experts on climate change (IPCC). Signup to receive email updates with our latest news, events, and videos. Please note that CBC does not endorse the opinions expressed in comments. The QS parliamentary caucus’s major campaign this past year has been Ultimatum 2020. Get everything you need to know about the Quebec election, directly to your inbox. Box 500 Station A Toronto, ON Canada, M5W 1E6. Capitalist economists cling to this approach, however, because they are unwilling to contemplate the necessary radical elimination of fossil fuel production with its probable negative impact on profits and “competitiveness.” Yet Québec solidaire fails to name the system that is responsible for the climate catastrophe. In the end, party activist Olivier Bolduc was elected the candidate at the nomination meeting, far ahead of Poitras. Now, the party's saying that if elected, it would increase corporate taxes to pay for its promises. Option nationale originated as a split from the Parti québécois in protest against the PQ’s reluctance to campaign for Quebec independence. Although there was no debate on the campaign scheduled at the QS congress, an emergency resolution proposed by six QS associations was adopted almost unanimously calling for the campaign to be “reoriented, in accordance with the requirements of the new situation [a reference to, inter alia, the climate protest demonstration of half a million in Montréal in late September] to put the emphasis on the major priorities of the Québec solidaire transition plan as well as to support, extend and deepen the present mobilization.” An accompanying proposal calling for a debate on the campaign at the congress had been ruled “unreceivable” by the resolutions committee. In the interests of immediate mobilization, and to lead successfully the transition to a new state, we will have to count on a massive citizens’ mobilization. "There’s not one proposal that hasn’t been applied in other countries around the world," says Québec Solidaire's co-spokesperson. By challenging the electoral results that made outgoing president Evo Morales the victor, the OAS paved the way for the seizure of power by an illegitimate and profoundly regressive government. Have this plan approved by an expert who is independent of the government. Neither advances a defense model that would be a simple extension of the one currently applied in Canada, with its massive spending on military equipment, a numerous professional army and a close alliance with the United States. First, a caveat. Sadly, in 2019, this assessment still rings true. The QS platform also mentions the rights of indigenous peoples. But the QS leadership has focused its primary appeal to the party’s members and supporters to mobilize “to force Legault to get his head out of the sand and assume his responsibilities.” (All quotations are translated from the QS pamphlet introducing the campaign.).