Hi Dad. I take a public forum to write to you because I have the impression that what I have to tell you could perhaps enlighten more than one.
As you know, I often talk to you about Québec solidaire. To encourage you to vote for them. I had done it in 2018, in vain, and I continue to do so since the start of the current campaign. Unfortunately, you quickly made me understand that you were going to renew your confidence in the CAQ. There are many like you, former PQ members, who chose to trust François Legault after the beginning of the sad fall of the Parti Québécois. The last time we talked about it, you even told me that you were “sure that Legault was going to make independence”. Dad, I’m sorry to tell you, but Legault, not only did he say he wanted more, a referendum, but all his requests for the repatriation of powers to the federal government failed. The truth is that he did nothing to advance the sovereignist cause. Nothing.
But what is really serious is above all that he has done nothing for the environment. Its policies to fight climate change, they are not just ineffective, they are inconvenient. I know this is important to you. Like at the cottage, where the damned big boats are smothering the lake and destroying the shores. Or the heat waves that made us suffer so much this summer. Or the snow that falls less and less in winter for skiing. You don’t find it funny, and you’re right. It really isn’t. But this is only the beginning, and the worst is yet to come.
You know what’s not funny too? The housing crisis. You see me, for the past two years, trying to buy something and outselling me with tens and tens of thousands of dollars in bidding. But I’m not too sorry, as you know. I have affordable rent in a central neighborhood. Imagine those who have to pay double for bad deals. They are numerous.
When we walk together near my house and you point me to signs for sale, you often jump when I tell you the price. “That doesn’t make any sense,” you keep telling me all the time. You’re right, Dad, that doesn’t make sense. Do you know what he does, Legault, for that? Nothing. In his eyes, the housing crisis does not even exist. Maybe he should come see the tents that appeared last year in Jarry Park. Because even if we like camping, you and me, people should never end up sleeping outside because they can’t find accommodation.
You’ve always loved tanks, dad, and you often have trouble understanding why I chose to sell mine and drive a Communauto. You also complain a lot that there is “always too much traffic and it’s more parkable in town”. You’re right, dad, because the automobile fleet in Quebec is constantly growing. It is even growing faster than the population! We no longer have the choice to review our use of the car. And the role models we choose to encourage. It’s not normal for my neighbor across the street, in town, to park three big tanks in the street. It is not normal that he is not penalized for having two trucks and a luxury car. This guy has to be taxed, it’s just normal.
Because that money, we need it. For our hospitals and our schools. I spent 12 hours in the ER this month because of a hockey ball caught in my eye. I could still see clearly enough to see how messed up it was. The exasperation could be read as much on the faces of the patients as those of the caregivers! And there will be more people to care for than ever in the coming years. Because we will have to take care of your generation. After all you’ve done for Quebec, that’s the least you can do.
You, one of the things you did for Quebec, Dad, was to teach French to Montreal immigrants in the public system. And that makes me very proud. On the other hand, when I see my girlfriend, an elementary school teacher, herself born of immigrant parents, being forced to work absolutely every day of the week to remedy the serious lack of resources that undermines every corner of the education system, or dip into his meager salary to buy teaching materials to succeed in motivating his students, I am very far from proud of the way the province is governed.
And I’m not even talking about the way François Legault talks about immigrants, people like the parents of my girlfriend, she who is exhausted, at 31, trying to teach Quebec youth properly. That’s not how you build a society.
Dad, when you go to the voting booth on Monday, think of yourself first. Think about the social project you dreamed of when you were my age. To those who didn’t believe it and what it did to you at the time. What it still does to you today.
But don’t just think about the past, also think about the future. To the one where I will live. What it will do to me that my generation has not been listened to. After all that, I’m sure you’ll make the right choice.
Thank you dad.
PS Thank you mum for figuring this all out already!