Québec solidaire and pick-ups | The Press

Québec solidaire should soon live its karma and meet the regions of Québec, as promised. I hope for them that they know what they are doing, because they are going to have their orange tax on pickup brand new, and it’ll come out pretty tough in my opinion.

There are calvaisse over there, “gas-guzzling vehicles”, as they so ceremoniously call them.

Out of Christian charity, and to spare these die-hard Montrealers and their relatives, I dare not write to you what my cousins ​​from Lac-Saint-Jean must think of Québec solidaire (QS) and their tax.

As things stand, they’re likely to find their little regional jaunt quite uncomfortable.

It’s not a weekend in the Outaouais, with a kayak on the roof of a Communauto vehicle, that makes you a connoisseur of profound Quebec.

That said, I understand very well that electoral mathematics imposes this tour. QS talks about “uncapping” its performance in the region. Good idea, otherwise they will stick to the low ceiling, and hit an atmospheric depression.

Before the last election, with their elected representative in Rouyn-Noranda–Témiscamingue, they probably had the impression that it was breaking through outside of Montreal, that they had caught on to it.

But it didn’t last long. Émilise Lessard-Therrien was beaten last November, and QS is still licking his wounds, confused, even if he kept Sherbrooke, which is not too regional, if you ask me.

Sad, because she was probably the only one in this party who had ever seen, with her own eyes, what a four-wheeler (ATV) looked like.

You have to be disconnected in curse, and too urban, to propose a surcharge on the pickup. In fact, in perceptions, we have in a way attacked the way of life of the regionals. We looked down on them, because we know the truth, we beautiful city dwellers!

It is necessary to make the difference with this urban mode of a generation which generally walks solo in bulimic monsters of fossil fuels without exceeding the limits of the city not to dirty them. This vogue comes with the beard, the dog and the activity foodie.

But in the regions, you see, we live a lot from the forest, mines, fishing, agriculture, and so on.

We love nature and we have cabins in the woods. Not second homes in the Laurentians where you arrive with designer shoes.

We hunt and fish a lot more than in Hochelaga, in Montreal. Moreover, we do not remember the last one who hunted moose in Sainte-Catherine Street.

And we go snowmobiling. Attaching a trailer behind a Honda Civic to drag the machine, I have rarely seen that.

And we often log our wood for the winter. By the way, a gigon (jigon) from the city who thinks he’s a lumberjack in the region, it shows quickly. It looks like me when I used to try to transport my Christmas tree in my mustard yellow Renault 5…

The moral of this story: a pickupin the region, it is not a luxury.

We will be told that QS had provided exemptions, and otherwise bonuses for electric. It smelt of the perfect bureaucratic kid’s license to sort it all out. The damage was already done.

By the way, I wouldn’t be reckless enough to go into the forest with a pickup electricity without being sure of having access, if necessary, to a generator to recharge the battery, just in case. A generator… GAS!

It’s not easy to be on the left in North America. It is not Bernie Sanders who wants. And again, generous Quebec is exactly what Bernie dreams of for the United States.

Social progress is achieved and successful when you ride with the world, at their side, or two steps ahead, but not too far ahead looking at them in the rear view mirror. The mirror becomes a distorting prism.

And there are so many other issues to deal with than surcharges on pickup…

Regional transport, for example. Disastrous, mobility in the region currently, and ruining. Something has to happen and it’s urgent.

Historically, regions have created innovative cooperation models. Cooperatives in forestry, agriculture, food, horticulture, fisheries, etc.

Models of social economy in which I believe, like the liberal economy, of course.

Instead of shouting against the rich, why not hope and work to build more social economy enterprises that would become economic and financial successes?

I come back to it again, social democracy is the idea of ​​better sharing the wealth that is created. But the left-wing parties only talk about sharing, without getting down to creating it. We cannot share what does not exist.

Québec solidaire will do what it wants, but I have learned that in politics, a little genuflection, admitting a mistake, always does the best job.

And one last thing, I would advise them not to go to the region to speak ill of François Legault. They love him, the PM, them, no need to go about it like that.