Ever since the CAQ took power, the government has wobbled from crisis to crisis, from scandal to scandal, from alarming bills to horrifying bills that have brought all opposition parties, unions and civil society groups together in protest. Every new crisis is managed on the fly, at the whims of the party’s cronies. The main goal of all these bills is to create structures that favour Québec’s rich and powerful at the expense of most Quebecers. The cuts to public services are widening inequalities. More and more people are struggling to obtain services, while the needs continue to grow. Against these attacks, strength in numbers and mobilization are our only defence.

Education: A priority?

In fall 2024, the CAQ government shut down francization classes, froze hiring in schools and colleges and capped the hours their employees could work. Thanks to our mobilization efforts, some of these measures have been rescinded. But the government keeps talking about the importance of “direct services to students,” while ignoring the fact that for any institution to work for the good of its students, it needs people to do the work, from teachers to support staff.

In winter 2025, the CAQ made historic cuts of $151 million to the CEGEP system and $570 million to elementary schools and high schools. These cuts had direct impacts on students at a time when some CEGEPs were already crumbling and many students were already struggling to make ends meet when some bursaries were terminated. Here again, as a result of the outcry, the minister restored some of the funding to put a better face on things. But he imposed such restrictive conditions that it is now difficult if not impossible for school service centres to secure the funds in question. Meanwhile, the children of the wealthy continue to receive the best education in private institutions that few ordinary Quebecers can afford.

Attacks on workers

Bill 1 is an important example of the CAQ’s anti-democratic practices and its determination to suppress the will of the people. The process for establishing a Québec Constitution was carried out without public consultation. Anywhere else in the world, when a country wants to adopt a constitution, it calls a constitutional assembly to debate the question. But in Québec, Justice Minister Jolin-Barette has declared himself “sovereign” in decisions concerning the constitution bill. He has gone so far as to stipulate that no organization that receives government funding may contest its decisions in court. The government’s strategy is clearly to prevent challenges of any kind in advance.

The CAQ is also trying to sweep away democratic checks and balances. Its Bill 3 is a direct attack on workers’ right of association. As I have written elsewhere, the CAQ is a servant of business, as witness the many millions of dollars wasted on Airbus, Northvolt and SAAQclic, money that could have been used to renovate aging public facilities such as Cégep St-Laurent or Hôpital Maisonneuve-Rosemont.

The blame game

To add insult to injury, the CAQ keeps inventing enemies, finding someone else to blame instead of acknowledging that it is Québec governments that have been imposing austerity for decades. The CAQ has blamed immigrants for the housing crisis and passed secularism laws that are fundamentally sexist, racist and Islamophobic. It has terminated the Programme de l’expérience québécoise (PEQ). It is promoting laws that are transphobic—always on the pretext that it is protecting children and other false arguments.

If the CAQ were really concerned about the future of children and the public, it would be investing in schools and the social safety net instead of subsidizing multinational corporations. The CAQ’s cuts have impacts on the public that are hard to understand until you have experienced them yourself. Two good examples are the privatization of adapted transport and the heartless decision to stop funding the installation of elevators in metro stations. The long-term impacts of Act 14 (Bill 89) are still hard to determine, but there’s every reason to believe that if our bargaining power is curtailed to suit the employer, our working conditions will suffer. We are losing historical gains that will take us years to recover.

With only months to go until the next election, we are at a critical juncture. The CCMM-CSN general assembly has clearly indicated its desire to take the offensive in the coming weeks and months. Join us to stand together against an authoritarian government that is gunning for our social and political rights!

Chantal Ide, General Secretary, CCMM-CSN