Friday, June 02, 2006
Francis Chartrand sends an Open Invitation to Progressives in Quebec - Saturday May 27, 2006
For more than a decade many progressive people in Quebec have voted for the Bloc Quebecois as a principled political party with social democratic values. Even many federalists have voted for the Bloc to ensure that key Quebec issues were raised and progressive values were represented in the House of Commons.
For years the Bloc has stated that they would only support a federal budget if it made improvements to the Employment Insurance system, contained significant money for the environment, and took action to address the so-called fiscal imbalance.
“[For the Bloc to support the 2005 federal budget] some serious work needs to be done in regards to the fiscal imbalance and the Kyoto Protocol. In addition, we are demanding that the government apply the 28 recommendations made by the Human Resources Committee regarding employment insurance.”
-Gilles Duceppe, Le Quotidien, March 3, 2005
Clearly the Bloc Quebecois no longer maintains this principle as it has endorsed Stephen Harper’s Conservative budget that contains nothing for EI, little for the environment and a mere study on the fiscal imbalance.
While the Bloc Quebecois have abandoned their progressive tradition there is an alternative for progressive Quebec voters – Jack Layton and the NDP.
We invite all Quebec progressives who feel abandoned by the Bloc’s decision to support Stephen Harper’s Conservative budget to join with us in building an honest alternative to the Liberals, a principled alternative to the Bloc and a progressive alternative to the Conservatives.
For years the Bloc has stated that they would only support a federal budget if it made improvements to the Employment Insurance system, contained significant money for the environment, and took action to address the so-called fiscal imbalance.
“[For the Bloc to support the 2005 federal budget] some serious work needs to be done in regards to the fiscal imbalance and the Kyoto Protocol. In addition, we are demanding that the government apply the 28 recommendations made by the Human Resources Committee regarding employment insurance.”
-Gilles Duceppe, Le Quotidien, March 3, 2005
Clearly the Bloc Quebecois no longer maintains this principle as it has endorsed Stephen Harper’s Conservative budget that contains nothing for EI, little for the environment and a mere study on the fiscal imbalance.
While the Bloc Quebecois have abandoned their progressive tradition there is an alternative for progressive Quebec voters – Jack Layton and the NDP.
We invite all Quebec progressives who feel abandoned by the Bloc’s decision to support Stephen Harper’s Conservative budget to join with us in building an honest alternative to the Liberals, a principled alternative to the Bloc and a progressive alternative to the Conservatives.
# posted by Francis Chartrand @ 12:44 AM 
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