The Fédération des travailleurs et travailleuses du Québec (FTQ) strongly condemns the announced cuts of more than half a billion dollars in education by the Legault government and its Minister of Education, Bernard Drainville, which further weaken an already exhausted network. Today, as workers and dozens of concerned parents protest in front of the Prime Minister’s office, the FTQ expresses its full solidarity with them and invites its members to mobilize.
« What we are experiencing now is the result of the CAQ’s incompetence. Since coming to power, we have seen the degradation of all our public services. This is what happens when a government votes itself a 30% salary increase while failing in its economic projects like Northvolt. It is a government at the end of its life that fails to right the ship and is ready to mortgage the future of an entire generation. Not to mention all the already exhausted people who will be asked to do even more with even less, » says FTQ General Secretary Denis Bolduc.
The announced budget cuts will have direct consequences on student success, particularly the most vulnerable, and on the already precarious working conditions of thousands of workers. Essential positions in special education and support staff are threatened, while the CAQ claims to value education. For the FTQ, these budgetary choices illustrate a deep contempt for public services and the people who carry them on their shoulders. Education should never be the accounting adjustment variable of a struggling government’s budget.
« All this is the result of the bad choices and lack of vision of this business-oriented government that chose to lower taxes, empty the state’s coffers with gift checks to get elected, and now announces it wants to build a third link costing more than 10 billion dollars, while ending social dialogue by hastily adopting Bill No. 89, which limits the right to strike, thus directly attacking Quebec workers. Frankly, if it weren’t pathetic, it would be laughable. In education, people in our schools live the reality on the ground: it is a climate of uncertainty and exhaustion. Every cut, every non-renewed contract, is one less service for a student and an additional burden for the remaining staff. It is unacceptable. We stand in solidarity with the members who are protesting today in front of François Legault’s office. The CAQ must come to its senses and offer accessible, quality public services that meet the needs of the population, » concludes Denis Bolduc.
A citizen rally against the cuts announced by Minister Bernard Drainville and in defense of our public education network will take place from 4:30 PM to 6:30 PM in front of François Legault’s office in L’Assomption.