The large demonstration “Dans la rue pour le Québec” (In the streets for Quebec) taking place on Saturday in Montreal will not only attract unions. Community groups will also be present; they say they are just as angry with the Legault government as the unions.
“We didn’t expect to be attacked so head-on in recent months with bills. It has been one bill after another, all specifically targeting the autonomy of independent community groups,” said Claudia Fiore-Leduc, campaign manager for the Réseau Québécois de l’action communautaire autonome (Quebec Network for Independent Community Action), in an interview.
Five provincial groups representing 4,500 community organizations will participate in Saturday’s demonstration alongside the unions.
“We are dismayed to see the scale of this. It goes beyond the financial; when our autonomy is attacked, democracy is attacked,” said Fiore-Leduc.
Community groups are also denouncing chronic underfunding in a context of growing needs, with the government imposing budget restrictions on health and education.
The major unions have all confirmed their participation in this demonstration, including the four FTQ federations, CSN, CSQ, and CSD, as well as the Fédération interprofessionnelle de la santé (FIQ), the Fédération autonome de l’enseignement (FAE), the Alliance du personnel professionnel et technique de la santé et des services sociaux (APTS), the Syndicat des professionnels du gouvernement du Québec (SPGQ), and the Syndicat de la fonction publique et parapublique du Québec.
–This report by La Presse Canadienne was translated by CityNews