Hundreds of people demonstrated loudly on Thursday afternoon in the streets of downtown Montreal to denounce the lack of attention paid to poverty by the political parties vying for the October 3 election. They are calling for increased funding for community groups that help thousands of people in need in the province.
“I think there is a certain embarrassment or a certain taboo in talking about people living in poverty. It may be a somewhat volatile or non-voting electorate. And in general, there is very little interest in people living in poverty. We are going to be more interested in the middle class”, launches the To have to the spokesperson for the Collective for a Quebec without Poverty, Virginie Larivière.
The latter took part on Saturday in a mobilization organized by the community sector which brought together hundreds of people in a festive atmosphere in Square Viger at the start of the afternoon. Organizations working with homeless people, tenants in need or people with mental health problems took part in this event. “Broken promises, closed community,” read a poster held up by a protester. “We want laws in bricks,” proclaimed another, referring to the growing needs for social housing in the province.
This march, which led the demonstrators to Place du Canada on Thursday afternoon, is the culmination of mobilizations held in the different regions of the province in recent weeks by the community sector.
“Today, we want to come together to establish a balance of power because despite everything we have done in the regions, we have to recognize that in the public debate, we do not hear about autonomous community organizations. “, explained Hugo Valiquette, president of the Quebec Network of Autonomous Community Action, a few moments before the start of this demonstration.
The impacts of inflation
In recent weeks, the various party leaders have discussed at length the impact of inflation on the cost of living of Quebecers, but the measures they are proposing essentially concern the “middle class” or well-to-do, notes Ms. River.
Several parties are thus promising tax cuts that will have no effect on the less well-off, who already do not pay any. Québec solidaire and the Parti Québécois have nonetheless committed to raising the minimum wage to $18 an hour. A united government would also increase social assistance and social solidarity benefits by 45%, the party announced on Wednesday, a few days before the vote.
“We are really here to tell all the candidates in the election campaign that they must listen to us and take the fight against poverty more seriously,” adds Virginie Larivière.
The Collective for a Poverty-Free Quebec is calling for dental and optometric care to be covered more broadly by the Régie de l’assurance maladie du Québec. The organization is also calling for quarterly indexation of social assistance benefits and expanded access to the Basic Income Program, which will come into effect on January 1, 2023, for all people on welfare.
The president of the Quebec Network of Autonomous Community Action, Hugo Valiquette, for his part, urges Quebec to increase the funding reserved for autonomous community organizations. On May 14, the Quebec government announced planned investments of $1.1 billion over five years to implement its 2022-2027 Government Action Plan for Community Action. But this sum, which will be used to finance the activities of the organizations and to help them improve the working conditions of their employees, remains insufficient, estimates Mr. Valiquette.
“What’s unfortunate is that there have been investments in recent years, but they’ve been done so bit by bit that you never get the upper hand,” he says. Organizations must therefore limit their hiring and opening hours for financial reasons. “At the end of the day, it is the population and the most vulnerable who will not have access to organizations if we do not put in place an increase in funding,” fears Mr. Valiquette.