Latest news with #QuébecSolidaire
CTV News
08-06-2025
- Politics
- CTV News
Ruba Ghazal wants QS to endorse pro-worker stance
Quebec Solidaire Leader Ruba Ghazal questions the government at the legislature in Quebec City, Tuesday, April 29, 2025 (Jacques Boissinot/The Canadian Press) Québec Solidaire (QS) co-spokesperson Ruba Ghazal wants her party's members to endorse a pro-worker stance at the party's National Council meeting this weekend. 'We need to prioritize and focus on one major issue, and that is workers. That doesn't mean we're putting everything else aside, far from it,' she told The Canadian Press. She insists that this is not a vote of confidence in her leadership. 'It's the members who decide. So we shouldn't assume anything, but I'm not worried about that,' said Ghazal. After Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois resigned as party co-spokesperson and the party suffered a disastrous result in the Terrebonne by-election last March, Ghazal said that QS needed to rediscover its 'North star.' Since then, she has been trying to focus her discourse on defending workers. 'Especially since we are facing a CAQ government that is anti-worker. We have seen this with the increase in labour disputes in the public sector,' says Ruba Ghazal. QS was quick to denounce Bill 89, which was passed last week and limits the right to strike in certain circumstances. According to interim co-spokesperson Guillaume Cliche-Rivard, the 'Manifesto for a Quebec in solidarity with its workers' that will be submitted to members is 'also a promise of action on the ground.' 'We intend to be much closer to workers, on the ground, visiting their workplaces and meeting with them,' he says. With its poll numbers struggling, QS hopes that this new direction will shift the polls in its favour. A Léger poll published in May puts QS at only 10 per cent of voting intentions. The Qc125 poll aggregator projects only six seats for the political party. QS currently has 12 members in the National Assembly. This report by The Canadian Press was first published in French June 8, 2025.
CTV News
05-06-2025
- Lifestyle
- CTV News
Secularism in schools: Drainville tables amendments to strengthen his bill
Education Minister Bernard Drainville during question period on May 6, 2025. (The Canadian Press/Jacques Boissino) A home-schooled child will lose their services if they or their parent refuses to uncover their face in the presence of a representative of the school or school service centre (CSS). On Thursday, Education Minister Bernard Drainville tabled several amendments to strengthen his Bill 94 on secularism in schools. This piece of legislation extends the obligation to have one's face uncovered at all times to all public and private schools, whether subsidized or not, for both students and staff. It also imposes this obligation on children who are home-schooled and their parents when receiving any service from the SSC. On Thursday, Drainville indicated that he was adding a penalty: refusal by a student or parent to comply will result in the loss of services. For example, a child who requires the services of a remedial teacher would be deprived of them as long as they or their parent refuses to uncover their face completely, explained Drainville's office. As the detailed study of Bill 94 began on Thursday, Québec Solidaire MNA Sol Zanetti accused the CAQ government of 'dividing society.' 'This is a bill that promotes social exclusion,' he said. This report by The Canadian Press was first published in French June 5, 2025.
CTV News
02-06-2025
- General
- CTV News
The Québec solidaire candidate in Terrebonne switches to the Parti Québécois
Archives - Parti Québécois leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon celebrates with candidate Catherine Gentilcore, second from left, after she won the by-election in Terrebonne on Monday, March 17, 2025. (The Canadian Press/Christinne Muschi) The candidate who represented Québec solidaire (QS) in the Terrebonne by-election, Nadia Poirier, is leaving the party to join the Parti Québécois (PQ). Poirier made the announcement on social media on Sunday, just over two months after the by-election, which PQ candidate Catherine Gentilcore easily won. A few days after the by-election, in which she finished fourth with 4.55 per cent of the vote, Poirier publicly lamented the lack of support from QS during the campaign. On Reddit, Poirier pointed out, among other things, that no QS MNAs had come to Terrebonne with her to campaign, except co-spokesperson Ruba Ghazal for a 'solidarity beer.' On Sunday, Poirier revealed that this was 'only the tip of the iceberg of what [she] criticizes the party for.' 'But since I prefer to wash my dirty laundry in private, I shared the rest of my grievances with them privately. The result remains the same: I am leaving Québec Solidaire,' she announced. Poirier justified her move to the PQ by saying that she had read the party's national platform and found 'particularly progressive elements, ideas that overlap with those of QS, refreshing proposals.' 'When you put aside the QS-PQ rivalry, you realize that we are not so far apart,' she wrote. Poirier stated that she will continue to campaign for independence. She also said she hopes for a 'sovereignist convergence' with a view to a third referendum. Poirier also ran for QS in Terrebonne in the 2022 general election. She finished third, behind the Coalition Avenir Québec and the PQ. This report by The Canadian Press was first published in French June 2, 2025.
CTV News
01-05-2025
- Politics
- CTV News
Québec Solidaire introduces bill for the right to work from home
Québec Solidaire is tabling a bill Thursday to regulate a person's right to work from home as part of a 'hybrid' model. In a press briefing, the party's labour critic, Alexandre Leduc, pointed out that there's an issue of 'balance' when it comes to hybrid work. 'As we speak, it's 100 per cent the decision of the boss. The boss can decide it's 100 per cent work from home, and the next morning, he can decide it's 100 per cent work from the office,' he said. 'We think it's not a good policy. You should have balance between the worker and the boss.' Leduc rebuffed any suggestion that workers should instead be given the power to work from home full time. 'We are offering a hybrid method, so the workers…can ask to work from home from a hybrid perspective,' he explained. If the request is refused, 'for bad reasons,' according to Leduc, workers would have the right to file a complaint with the Commission des normes, de l'équité, de la santé et de la sécurité du travail (CNESST). 'The aim is not to create squabbles throughout Quebec,' he said, 'but to reach a rapid decision in these situations, in the same way as for all other labour standards.' The party also wants to ban the use of remote monitoring software by employers. 'It's bad management practice, and would probably be considered harassment: nobody wants their boss watching them through a screen all the time,' he said. Leduc notes that the bill would not apply to jobs that require workers to be on location full time, such as nurses or bus drivers. Wednesday, Québec Solidaire co-spokesperson Ruba Ghazal told The Canadian Press she deplored the fact that 'employers' previous reticence about this way of working has returned.' 'This leads to conflicts where employers want people to return to their place of work more exercise more control,' she said. Work from home and hybrid models became popular during the COVID-19 pandemic, which forced workers across the world into isolation to avoid spreading the disease. As for Québec Solidaire's bill, those tabled in the National Assembly by opposition parties are rarely 'called upon' by the government. That is, they are rarely debated and studied in parliamentary committees before being adopted. Though any member of parliament is allowed to table a bill, in practice, legislative initiative is the prerogative of the government, which decides, with its house leader, how to proceed. With files from The Canadian Press.
CBC
27-03-2025
- Health
- CBC
Revamp of Maisonneuve-Rosemont Hospital 'not going fast enough,' Quebec health minister admits
Maintenance costs are growing at the Maisonneuve-Rosemont Hospital in Montreal's east end while construction for the long-awaited modernization project appears to be delayed — again. "I'm pushing the project as fast as I can," Quebec Health Minister Christian Dubé told reporters Thursday morning, adding he'd hoped construction would begin this summer. During an exchange at the National Assembly Wednesday with Québec Solidaire health critic Vincent Marissal, Dubé said he needs "a few more months" to continue analyzing the project before the shovels can hit the ground. He said he's hoping to come up with a timeline and precise start date for construction this year. "I seriously thought we would be able to see excavators on the hospital grounds this year," said Dubé. "I'll be the first to say it's not going fast enough." Marissal shot back at Dubé, saying the construction site is "still being planned, but nothing is happening." Quebec unveiled its budget on Tuesday, which showed the anticipated project to revamp the hospital remained in the "planning" phase in the Quebec Infrastructure Plan (PQI), despite construction slated to start this summer. According to Radio-Canada, there is still a possibility that some construction work will begin later this year. The Maisonneuve-Rosemont Hospital, whose facilities date back to the 1950s, serves nearly a third of Montreal's population Montreal. Close to $140 million has been invested since 2014 to help maintain the aging hospital, according to documents obtained by Radio-Canada. Dubé officially launched the revamp project in 2023, telling Radio-Canada at the time that construction should begin in 2024. Last year, Christine Fréchette, the minister responsible for the metropolis and Montreal region, said construction would begin in summer 2025 instead. "There are so many announcements that were rushed, including mine and I'll say it: rushed because we didn't have the right numbers. We didn't have the right analysis," Dubé told Marissal Wednesday.
