(Quebec) Unions were seen and heard on Friday, the second day of public consultations on Bill 23 reforming school governance.
In the morning, members of the Fédération du personnel de soutien scolaire (FPSS-CSQ) dressed in period costumes gathered near the National Assembly to the sound of music by Bach.
They distributed to the deputies tracts, rolled up like parchments, on which the Minister of Education, “His Majesty King Bernard Drainville”, was accused of wanting to appropriate all the powers to better “reign”.
“No to the monarchy! could be read on some posters that were brandished by the protesters. A “visibility action” which was necessary, in the opinion of the vice-president of the FPSS-CSQ, Dominic Latouche.
“He recovers all the powers!, He denounced in an interview. We wanted to give the power to the parents, here we go back, it starts from above to go down, and this is not how it should be in education. »
A little further, in front of the parliament, a hundred members of the Autonomous Federation of Education (FAE) waved red smoke sticks while blowing trumpets.
The president of the FAE, Mélanie Hubert, denounced in front of her troops the “smokescreen” that is Bill 23, according to her. The FAE demands the pure and simple withdrawal of the piece of legislation.
“The minister shows that he takes care of things, that he puts certain elements in place, but in the end, nothing changes on the ground. He fools the population by pretending to take care of it, ”said Mr.me Hubert.
On Thursday, the entourage of Prime Minister François Legault had described on Twitter the groups which expressed reservations about the bill as “forces of inertia”.
Mr. Drainville had promised in a scrum to “resist resistance to change”.
Remember that the study of Bill 23 is taking place in the context of negotiations for a new collective agreement for the public sector.
Special consultations on Bill 23 will continue next week.