Manon Massé delivered her last speech as co-spokesperson for Québec solidaire in the national council, but underlines that she is here to stay. “The community organizer” assures that she still has “the flame that burns” to fight for the social struggles that have always animated her.
“There is a human crisis that is experienced daily in the streets of my constituency. Every day, I come across people who have distress in their eyes, because they have no housing, because they can’t manage to feed themselves, because the dope is so made of scrapthat they scrape completely, because they have been abandoned by the government”, launched Mme Massé in speech in front of the delegates of the party who met in the National Council in Saint-Hyacinthe.
The member for Sainte-Marie–Saint-Jacques represents the Centre-Sud sector in Montreal. She wonders when “the rich go to catch that leaving people in the street is not good for them”.
“The world is afraid to come to my county. The day the rich go to catch that, maybe the redistribution of wealth won’t worry them anymore,” she said. She wants to form a united front to “expel human misery from our neighborhoods, our reserves, our communities, our villages”. “That’s what I want to tackle,” she said.
The flame
Stepping down as co-spokesperson in the fall, she says she will have more time and energy to “give love” to these people. Her desire to stay in politics is motivated in part by the fights she wants to wage against the decisions of the Coalition avenir Québec, particularly in terms of housing. “How is it in Quebec that it is made so easy to do cash like that with a flip. How come we let this happen. I don’t accept that. […] Now is the time to write a law that will protect the world,” she said.
PHOTO JOSIE DESMARAIS, THE PRESS
Manon Massé is a founding member of Québec solidaire, and was first elected in 2014.
That’s why Quebec needs us. That’s why I still have the flame burning inside of me.
Manon Masse
Mme Massé is a founding member of Québec solidaire, and was first elected in 2014. She had no idea at the time that she would be thrown into the limelight by taking over from Françoise David. Her colleague Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois welcomed her on stage using a famous formula from Mme Mass. “Let’s welcome the most thawed pogo in the box,” he said.
Succession
“When I arrived in this adventure, I did not think of being co-spokesperson. It was for Francoise [David] that, not for me. […] Look at me, a community organizer. I would never have thought of having three leaders’ debates, including one in english “said Mr.me Mass.
If she passes the torch, it is also because she was convinced that there was a succession, in particular the three aspiring co-spokespersons Ruba Ghazal, Christine Labrie and Émilise Lessard-Therrien.
“I give up my place, as spokesperson, because I am ready. And I’m ready because I know my party is ready,” Ms.me Mass. She invites the “sowers of change”, the “brewers of ideas”, and “people who can’t take any more of what is happening” to take advantage of this race to “get on board” with Québec solidaire.
The identity of the replacement for the member for Sainte-Marie–Saint-Jacques as co-spokesperson will be known next November, after a vote to be held in a national council of the party, in Gatineau.