PV staff
The sudden resignation of Quebec premier François Legault caught many political analysts off guard and has led to widespread speculation about the immediate future of his party, the Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ), and of Quebec politics in general. With a provincial election due in October, many commentators are calling this “the end of the Legault era.”
But a deeper analysis, one which examines the ongoing political and economic dynamics, yields quite a different conclusion.
In a statement released on January 14, the Parti communiste du Québec (PCQ) warned that the “Legault era” is far from over precisely because it is not confined to one individual. “Despite the personalization of power it has brought about over the past seven years, the CAQ government has always been controlled by corporate monopolies. This dynamic will continue.”
The PCQ is also critical of the other parties in the National Assembly – Québec solidaire, the Parti québécois and the Quebec Liberal Party – who have showered Legault with praise for his service. “We denounce this hypocrisy, which nevertheless is a reminder of [those parties’] capitalist political affiliations, and instead call on working people to organize themselves more vigorously against the power of monopolies and to guard against the illusion that this resignation could be favourable to them.”
Legault and the CAQ are products of state monopoly capitalism and are thoroughly in the service of big corporations. Their landslide election in 2018 was on a platform that appealed to both the Liberal Party’s more nationalist wing as well as the neoliberals within the Parti québécois. The CAQ government’s main objectives included weakening the labour and democratic movements, abolishing school boards, and overhauling the occupational health and safety regime to the benefit of employers at the expense of workers. The PCQ notes that this direction has not changed.
“Let’s not be fooled: Legault is resigning, but his objectives remain. The privatization of health, education and public services, the dismantling of trade unions, and narrow nationalism all continue in a more or less forced march.”
So, why the resignation? In addition to Legault’s obviously plummeting popularity, the CAQ’s original objectives – which unified large sections of the right wing and narrow nationalists – have been largely accomplished. Faced with this apparent loss of its relevance, the CAQ – and, more importantly, the corporate monopolies behind it – need to at least present the appearance of a change.
Whoever succeeds Legault before or after the provincial election in October, the CAQ’s anti-people and anti-labour policies will only be overturned through an organized mass struggle, and that requires political preparation.
With that in mind, the PCQ plans to field candidates in the election, campaigning on a platform that confronts corporate power by calling for a public monopoly over public services, widespread and comprehensive program of nationalization, and expanded labour and democratic rights. The Party will also campaign for a democratic solution to the national question in Canada as a key element of a new and independent Canadian foreign policy based on peace and solidarity.
“Only such a popular, pragmatic and class-based program can put an end not only to the Legault era, but to the era of state monopoly capitalism.”
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