Quebec capitalists declare war

Meanwhile in the French-speaking part of Canada, the Liberals are doing exactly the same thing as in English-speaking Canada, while the Parti Québécois and the Action démocratique du Québec, supposedly parties that are supposed to defend the French-speaking population of Quebec, have supported attacks on public sector workers and made clear they would pursue cuts of their own if they were in power.

On 31st March, Jean Charest’s government announced the 2010 provincial budget. The budget represents a generalized attack against the working class and an attempt to use the crisis as an excuse to wipe out the historic social gains of the masses. The measures announced range from tuition increases to the abolition of free healthcare. What is needed is a response from the labour leaders; we cannot afford to allow these attacks against our standards of living.

The government has proposed to eliminate the deficit by 2013-14, a deficit which currently stands at $4.5-billion. Quebec’s debt is estimated at $285.6-billion, equal to 94% of the province’s GDP. It has the 5th highest debt-to-GDP ratio amongst OECD countries, not far behind Greece’s 102.6%

The government’s attitude is that the budget is an unavoidable reality that Quebeckers must come to terms with. As Deputy Premier Nathalie Normandeau said to La Presse:

“Citizens must be conscious of one thing: Quebec finances 26% more in public services than its neighbour Ontario, but its capacity to pay is 14% less! We still think that Quebecers cling to their public services, like the parental allowance and $7 daycares, so we chose not to cut them. These services that don’t exist elsewhere and that have been put in place because we believe in the family still have a price.”

She went on to say, “The government knew that the budget was going to be difficult. The current generation has to face up to its responsibilities”.

The government’s reduction measures are broken down in the following manner: 60% will come from “the state”; 31% will come from contributions by “citizens”; and finally, 7.1% will be made up of contributions from the corporate sector.

Among the measures defined as state contributions are a 5% per year cap on healthcare spending increases, as well as a general freeze on government spending increases. The corporate contributions simply amount to a compensatory tax on the financial and mining sectors, expected to last for two years

“Citizen” contributions are more lengthy. The budget proposes yearly fees for the healthcare system, along with proposed fees for every visit; new unspecified tuition increases, including the intention of introducing tuition at CEGEPs; a 1% increase to the QST, up to a rate of 9.5%; a 1-cent-per-litre increase to the fuel tax; and an increase to Hydro-Quebec rates, with the top 150 corporations exempted.

By far, the most controversial measures are the changes proposed in the healthcare system. The budget announces the intention to move towards a “user-pay” principle in the healthcare system, meaning a $25 fee to be charged for every hospital visit. Hospital visits that require the attention of multiple physicians would result in charges of $25 for each physician! The government’s proposal is to charge these expenses through deductions from tax rebates. For now, this is merely a proposal, and a committee has been announced to look into its feasibility – but the government’s intention is to implement it within two years. However, the yearly fees are to take effect immediately, $25 in 2010, $100 in 2011, and $200 in 2012. This is a flat fee, a regressive tax not based on income. Workers fought for the right to adequate medical care regardless of ability to pay. What is being prepared abolishes this principle.

There are also significant increases in electricity rates. Hydro-Quebec asked for permission from the energy board to increase its rates by 5.3%, almost double the inflation rate of 2.8%. The request was granted on 1st April, but this increase was separate from the increases outlined in the budget, which will rise further in the coming years. However, the top 150 companies in Quebec will be exempt.

Option consommateurs points out that these increases burden the working class above all. “Already, 22 per cent of the population lives under the poverty line, and these households devote an average of 7.5 per cent of their monthly budget to pay their electric bills,” said Stephanie Lussier, co-ordinator of Option consommateurs’ energy dossier.

The budget also includes increases in tuition fees at universities across the province. Tuitions will be completely liberalized and each university will be free to decide, at their discretion, what to charge students. The government has also signalled that it intends to introduce tuition fees in the CEGEP system, which was created originally as a system of free education for the sons and daughters of workers, a concession won by movements in the 1960s and 1970s. Quebec currently has the lowest tuition in Canada but this budget signals an intention to end this distinction.

This is a budget that kicks workers while they are down. In addition to the job losses of the economic recession, workers are being asked to shoulder Jean Charest’s deficit reduction plan. Furthermore, the government has intentionally avoided increasing income taxes for the rich, or taxes on corporate profits, which it deemed “noxious”. This is a budget that disproportionately places the burden on the working class.

Defend our social wage!

Beginning with the struggles around the Quiet Revolution, Quebec’s working class fought for, and won, significant concessions from the capitalist class. These included free healthcare, less expensive education through the Université du Québec network, almost free college education in the form of CEGEPS, controlled hydro-electric rates, and $7/day daycares.

The capitalists have viewed this social wage as a burden for a long time, but have wanted to avoid a direct conflict with the working masses. They have come to the conclusion that a confrontation can be avoided no longer. The manifesto “Pour un Quebec lucide” was the first hint of what was to come. This budget has made it a reality. The government is determined to push the new measures through. We are left with no choice, we need to fight back.

The day after the budget’s announcement, 12,000 people descended into Montreal in buses from across the province. Their main slogan was: “The wealth exists, take it from where it is!” This demonstration was organized by a coalition against rate increases in public services, which includes labour and student unions.

On 11th April, 50,000 people with “baloney” sandwiches surrounded the National Assembly in Quebec City in a symbolic protest against the government’s budget. It is also worth remembering that the public sector unions’ Common Front organized a protest of 75,000 just a few weeks ago, and that the main slogan there was “together to defend public services”.

Finally, the latest opinion polls by Léger Marketing-Le Devoir show the government’s disapproval ratings at 77%, higher than they were in 2005 in the midst of the 244,000-strong student strike. In fact, these numbers are the highest ever recorded against a Quebec government, throughout Léger’s 30 years of polling. The vice-president of Léger Marketing, Christian Bourque, said, “We’ve never seen something like this. There are now less people who say they are satisfied with the government than people prepared to vote for it. This is very rare. This means that even through-and-through Liberals are not content.”

The mood is clearly one of anger. This can develop into a general movement against the government’s attempts to place this crisis on our shoulders. What is required is a lead, to mobilize a movement against the attacks of the capitalist class, around a program that presents a way out for the masses.

The Common Front leaders need to add the rolling back of the budget cuts to their list of demands, and make a public appeal to the mass of the working class. An appeal on this basis would be a rallying point for the mass of the population, unionized or not. This would give invaluable support to the unions in their struggle to defend their standards of living, as it would concretely connect the struggles of the public sector workers with the struggle against the budget, and lay the basis for a united struggle that can be a force to be reckoned with.

While the Liberals are leading the charge, both the PQ and the ADQ have supported attacks on public sector workers and made clear they would pursue cuts of their own if they were in power. All three parties are the parties of the capitalist class, and the PQ has even dissolved SPQ-Libre, the union club within the party, to prove its loyalty to the bosses. The struggle against these attacks is not a struggle against individual bosses, but against their class as a whole, and the parties that represent them. This is a political struggle, and for this we need a political party of our own: a mass party of the working class to unite our struggle and lead it.

Quebec solidaire has the potential to become such a party, and has already come out against the budget. While the government was holding a public consultation on how to finance the deficit, the party held a “counter-consultation” and launched a campaign called “For Political Courage.” The campaign’s main slogan is “It’s their turn to tighten their belts”. This is correct, and a good step forward. But we must go further.

QS proposed a series of tax increases and exemption reductions on the bosses as part of this campaign, which the party calculates would give the government an extra $5-billion. This, however, ignores that the economy will remain in the hands of the very same bourgeoisie this programme is aimed against. Jean Charest has named the top 150 most important and most influential companies in the Quebec economy: they are the ones given exemptions from the Hydro increases in this budget. Their size means they can close factories and cut jobs across Quebec and have a devastating effect on the livelihoods of millions of Quebeckers if they ever found it no longer profitable to operate in Quebec. It is they who must pay for this crisis, but they would never willingly sit by and abide by such a program.

Capitalism has failed, and the party of the ruling class has proposed their solution to the crisis: the abolition of free healthcare, and deep cuts to the social wage. If capitalism can’t give us a decent standard of living, our struggle should be against capitalism itself. With a socialist programme, QS could unite the unions and the majority of the working class behind it, and lead the struggle against the bourgeoisie. We need a socialist solution to the crisis: instead of the destruction of our social services, the nationalization of the top 150 banks and companies under democratic workers’ control.

The money is there, take it from where it is!

French original: La Riposte - Quebec