Québec solidaire's 25 Commitments

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as adopted at a special convention, held in Montréal from November 24 to 26, 2006.

(See also Declaration of principles (PDF) below)

PROTECTING OUR ENVIRONMENT TOGETHER

Commitment 1:
Making wind power work for everyone

To reassert the government of Québec’s role as the central decision maker in the control and distribution of energy in Québec, Québec solidaire will:

Nationalize the wind power industry, just as the government of Québec did with Hydro-Québec. A Québec solidaire government will found Éole-Québec, a publicly held company that will become the driving force for development in this industry. The government will be jointly responsible for developing Éole-Québec along with local and regional bodies (managed according to the principles of participatory democracy), and with Aboriginal peoples. All parties will be responsible for the application of new projects in accordance with the outcome of public consultations and may retain an equitable share of the resulting proceeds; and
Reinstate Hydro-Québec’s original mandate: To provide electricity to all citizens of Québec at the lowest possible cost.

Commitment 2:
Practising responsible forestry

Québec solidaire will establish local forestry committees as not-for-profit organizations that will be in charge of the ecosystemic management of the public forest and whose management plans will be approved by the government. The government of Québec will receive remittances, will monitor forest operations, and will promote the transformation of the forestry economy to add greater value in forestry products.

Québec solidaire will convene an Estates General to investigate the status of Québec’s forests.

Commitment 3:
Changing transportation and reaching Kyoto Objectives

Québec solidaire will invest massively in public transit and in energy efficiency programs with the goal of effectively combating climate change and surpassing the objectives set out in the Kyoto Protocol. QS will also promote the use of renewable energy over fossil fuels.

Commitment 4:
Protecting water

Québec solidaire will equip the government of Québec with the legal means to ensure that water is protected in all of its forms by entrenching it in the Québec Civil Code as a res publica. (1)

Commitment 5:
Adopting new approaches to agriculture

Québec solidaire will apply the following transition measures to aid in establishing new approaches to agriculture:

Mandatory labelling of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) and a moratorium on farming GMOs;
Increased support to producers of organic and locally produced foods; and
A system of environmental investment credits for farmers whose use green technologies.

(1) Res publica means “public thing” in Latin and refers to what individuals in a community hold in common or place above their self interest.

BUILDING TOGETHER

Commitment 6:
Increasing government revenue and introducing tax reforms

Québec solidaire will increase government revenue and introduce tax reforms for personal and corporate income tax. More specifically, QS will:

Re-establish a fiscal balance between private companies and individual tax payers by increasing corporate tax contributions for government financing;
Increase the number of income brackets for individual tax payers;
Enact legislation to prevent tax avoidance or tax evasion;
Tax 100% of capital gains and dividends;
Lower RRSP investment ceilings;
Improve control over tax deductions; and
Reform the Québec sales tax (QST) so that it may be adjusted to support initiatives that encourage a more environmentally sound use of goods and resources while discouraging practices that have a negative impact on the environment. Under these adjustments, the QST will be significantly lower on essential goods, whereas it will be higher on luxury items.

Commitment 7:
Repealing anti-union laws

Québec solidaire will repeal anti-union laws (2) and thereby create conditions conducive to real negotiations with the public sector. Moreover (in full compliance with the terms of International Labour Organization Convention C87), QS will support the right and access to union organizing in other economic sectors, particularly those in which women are predominantly employed.
Québec solidaire will also allow for multi-employer unionization by reforming the Labour Code.

Commitment 8:
Prohibiting disparities in treatment based on labour status

Québec solidaire will prohibit disparities in the treatment of employees based on their labour status. When it is not possible to offer specific benefits to employees in unstable jobs, equalizing compensation will be paid to them. Québec solidaire will also ensure that salary equity continues to be applied and more widely implemented.

Commitment 9:
Supporting a social economy

Québec solidaire will support the development of a social economy, based on three main approaches:

Encouraging investment in these businesses based a workers’ solidarity fund investment model;
Promoting the acquisition by governments and public administrations of fair trade, environmentally responsible products from social economy suppliers; and
Increasing accessibility to the services offered by social economy businesses, using relevant models drawn from some childcare centres.

Commitment 10:
Extending vacation periods

Québec solidaire will extend vacation periods from three weeks, after one year of work, to five weeks, after five years of work, and will initiate a comprehensive public consultation regarding a reduced work week.(2) More specifically, Bill 7 (which amended the Act respecting health services and social services), 8 (which amended the Act respecting childcare centres and childcare services), 30 (which imposed a reorganization of bargaining units in the health and social services sector), 31 (which amended Articles 45 and 46 of the Labour Code), and 142 (which imposed work conditions on public sector employees, by decree).

LIVING TOGETHER

Commitment 11:
Reinforce the Act to Combat Poverty and Exclusion

Québec solidaire will apply and immediately reinforce the Act to Combat Poverty and Exclusion. More specifically, QS will:

Progressively increase minimum wage to $10 per hour, annually indexing it to the cost of living. Appropriate support will be provided to independent small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), not-for-profit organizations, and cooperatives to implement this measure;
Increase welfare benefits, with the goal of covering all essential needs. A Québec solidaire government will immediately increase all benefits to the level currently received by persons with severe limitations to employment. These benefits will be safeguarded as “untouchable” and indexed to the cost of living. Alimony payments will not be subtracted from welfare benefits;
Repeal the mandatory RAMQ eligibility waiting time applied to new arrivals to Québec;
Lift the legal prohibition on bankruptcy applicable to Québec citizens who were formerly students and cannot repay their loans; and
Enact legislation or any other measures required to combat the problems of housing and homelessness, most notably by funding the construction of 8,000 social housing units per year, which will be built according to ecologically sound standards (4,000 per year, if there is no investment from the federal government);

Québec solidaire will consult the public regarding various options to reduce poverty in a sustainable and respectful fashion. On such measure could be to institute a guaranteed minimum income for Québec citizens;

QS will bring pressure to bear upon the federal government to expand Employment Insurance eligibility criteria to include all contributing wage earners.

Commitment 12:
Getting healthcare when we need it, close to home

Québec solidaire will invest in healthcare to better meet the needs of the population by:

Consolidating the role, the capacity, and the quality of neighbourhood healthcare and social services, especially home care services;
Bringing all possible resources to bear in order to provide more timely universal access to healthcare and social services; and
Preventing the privatization of healthcare and a two-tier healthcare system.

Commitment 13:
Founding Pharma-Québec

Québec solidaire will found Pharma-Québec, a public body that will manage pharmaceutical acquisition, research, and production in order to control rising healthcare costs, advance Québec’s scientific potential, and innovate in the field of medications.

Commitment 14:
Promoting a Québec-wide campaign to redress violence against women

Québec solidaire will draft and implement a policy to redress violence against women, and will:

Introduce legislation and other measures to combat violence against women;
Initiate an awareness-raising campaign on violence against women, equipped with adequate resources (E.g., the Government of Québec’s campaign against smoking); and
Provide financial support to groups working in the field of violence against women.

Commitment 15:
Supporting our indispensable community organizations

Québec solidaire will recognize the indispensable role of community organizations within their various communities, will respect their organizational autonomy, and will increase funding for their basic mandates.

Commitment 16:
Enacting an anti-SLAPP law

Québec solidaire will ensure that an anti-SLAPP (3) law is enacted to prohibit abusive lawsuits undertaken against citizens’ groups.
(3) Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation

GROWING TOGETHER

Commitment 17:
Introducing a comprehensive family policy

Québec solidaire will prepare a comprehensive, feminist family policy that recognizes the educational role that parents play, a role still predominantly taken on by women. This policy will introduce:

A universal parental allowance benefit;
Family and housekeeping assistance proportionally adjusted to household income;
Measures to support workforce reintegration for people who have been off of the job market for a prolonged period of time; and
Economic and social recognition for the work of family caregivers (informal or “natural” caregivers).

Commitment 18:
Improving accessibility to education

Québec solidaire will progressively reduce the number of students per classroom, at all levels of education.

Subsidies to private establishments and tuition fees will be progressively phased out and complementary resources will be added, with the goal of providing every Québec student with free, public, secular, quality education.

Québec solidaire will hire specialized employees in each school commission to provide satisfactory services to students with learning or adjustment difficulties.

QS will eliminate student indebtedness and will reform the Aide financière aux études system in consultation with the student movement so that it meets their needs.

Under a Québec solidaire government, all Aide financière aux études programs will be integrated into an entirely public system and student debt will be considered as part of individual net worth so that it may be included in calculations pertaining to cases of personal bankruptcy.

Commitment 19:
Protecting the French language

The status of French as the language of work, education, and public communication will be consolidated by:

Providing the Office de la langue française with the means to effectively enforce Bill 101;
Offering free courses for basic French language acquisition and upgrading for newcomers to Québec, Anglophones, and Aboriginal peoples, supported by financial incentives; and
Instituting official leave periods for language training, which will be jointly financed by both the government and employers.

Commitment 20:
Establishing a social safety net for artists

Québec solidaire will draft a proposal to establish a social safety net for Québec artists.

Commitment 21:
Implementing a policy against homophobia

Québec solidaire will adopt and implement a pro-active policy against homophobia by developing appropriate programs and by allocating correspondingly appropriate resources. Moreover, QS will reinforce, finance, and duly empower the initiatives, investigations, and pro-active measures undertaken against sexism, racism, and homophobia by the Commission des droits de la personne et des droits de la jeunesse.

Commitment 22:
Supporting childcare centres

Québec solidaire will review Bill 124 (the legislation that reorganized the management of childcare services), and will develop the childcare centre network by offering services adapted to the needs of families and communities.

GOVERNING TOGETHER

Commitment 23:
Electing a Constituent Assembly

During its first mandate, Québec solidaire will set out to achieve sovereignty in Québec by holding a general election to establish a Constituent Assembly. This body for public consultation will be representative of the broad spectrum of political positions held by Québecers, providing equal representation for men and women, for all of the regions, and for the diversity of citizens that make up Québec’s cultural communities. The Constituent Assembly will be charged with two mandates:

First, it will set up a participative democratic process through which it will consult the population of Québec on its political and constitutional future, and on related values and political institutions;
Then, based on the results of this initiative (which will be made public and by which the Constituent Assembly will be bound in its subsequent course of action), it will propose the changes to be made to our political institutions. It will further establish both the values fundamental to “Living Together” in Québec (to appear in a future constitution) and a vision for the constitutional future of Québec. The Constituent Assembly’s proposals will be submitted to Québecers in the form of a referendum, which will address two distinct issues: the political and constitutional future of Québec; and a Québec constitution.

Commitment 24:
Reforming the voting system

Québec solidaire will adopt a voting system largely based on a proportional approach, establishing a regular date for elections, and ensuring equal representation in the National Assembly for men and women, as well as improved representation for minorities and people from the ethno-cultural communities of Québec.

Commitment 25:
Respecting Aboriginal nations’ ancestral rights and the right to self-determination

Québec solidaire will recognize the right of Aboriginal nations to self-determination and will ensure that their inalienable ancestral rights are respected. To honour this commitment, Québec solidaire will table a motion before the National Assembly supporting the United Nation’s Declaration on the Rights of Aboriginal Peoples when it is presented to the UN General Assembly later this year (2007). Moreover, Québec solidaire will support initiatives by Aboriginal persons living outside of reserves to improve their living conditions.

A Québec solidaire government will establish people-to-people relations with the 11 Aboriginal nations living within the territory of Québec. Through nation-to-nation negotiations, QS will facilitate access to resources and territories belonging to Québec that would provide Aboriginal nations with the means to achieve their autonomy. In addition, through financial assistance and other means, Québec solidaire will lend its steadfast support to the initiatives of Aboriginal women to ensure that their fundamental rights are respected.