Montreal Demonstrates Against Provincial Austerity Scheme

Community and student groups hold a demonstration in Montreal against austerity

by CASA

Thursday, Comité d'action solidaire contre l'austerité - CASA held a demonstration to assert our collective rejection of neoliberal austerity economics.

In Quebec today the extreme austerity politics of the Parti Libéral du Québec (PLQ) are a serious threat. Since the recent election the Liberals have already indicated that serious “reform” to education and health care are pending, we understand very well that “reform” means the economic strangulation of these important public institutions.

As we clearly saw over nine years of the previous Liberal government, under the corrupt and corporate-driven leadership of Charest, the Liberals hold a vision for Quebec society that seeks to undercut many of the collective social gains of the Quiet Revolution.

After 18 months of a PQ government we are under no illusion that the PQ holds a different economic vision from the Liberals, one which prioritizes the profits of the corporate sectors while squeezing the economic well-being of the poor and working majority.

As always, these austerity attacks disproportionately affect women and immigrant workers, who are pushed towards precarious employment–this structural sexism and racism is every bit as vicious as the “charte xénophobe.” The need to build a feminist, anti-racist response to these attacks is urgent.

Attacks from the Harper government, meanwhile, are also unrelenting: the assault on Canada Post, on unemployment insurance, on workers’ pensions. We can simply not tolerate this federal government’s vision of an austerity economy built on the backs of the women and the poor, fuelled by polluting oil, and exploiting stolen indigenous resources.

Today we are taking the streets for not only the first anti-austerity demonstration in Montréal after the elections, but also an occasion to strengthen our long-term commitment to this fight for social and economic
justice. Also we aim to take the streets today to draw a clear connection in our fight against austerity in Quebec to the fight against austerity across Canada, with the hopes of contributing to a pan-Canadian movement to challenge the extreme economic violence of the Conservatives.


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For Immediate Release Thursday, April 17, 2013
What: Demonstration Against Austerity in Montreal
Where: Carré St-Louis Montreal. corner St. Denis / Rue Du Square-Saint-Louis
When: Thursday, April 17, 6pm
Contact : Stefan Christoff