Protesters demonstrate against austerity measures from the Couillard government on Feb. 23, 2015 Photo: ANDREW BRENNAN
Hundreds of protesters once again converged on the Montreal office of Premier Philippe Couillard to voice their opposition to government cuts in the public sector.
“Austerity is irking me, definitely,” Deanna Lombardi of the Réseau d’action des femmes en santé et services sociaux, a coalition of health and social services organizations that support marginalized women, told CJAD News.
“I’m worried about those that are the most vulnerable in our society, those with the least agency,” she continued. “We know the gap between richest and poorest is increasing and I’m worried that austerity measures will just worsen this.”
A short march to Place Montreal Trust involved a brief detour for a few dozen demonstrators, who occupied the offices of Education Minister Yves Bolduc and the headquarters of the Canadian Bankers Association on McGill College Ave.
The occupants were escorted from the offices by security and police with no arrests made. Those in the CBA offices quickly left once they delivered a “notice of eviction” to the banking association.
Quebec Solidaire MNA for Sainte-Marie–Saint-Jacques Manon Massé was among the protesters braving the cold.
She says she does not want anti-austerity protests to turn into a large-scale movement like the student strikes in 2012, where near-daily demonstrations on the streets of Montreal often descended into violence, but that could be Premier Couillard’s endgame.
From what [I’ve seen] of how this government is going, I think that is what he wants, and I don’t know why,” she told CJAD News.
The coalition behind the protest includes student groups, but also teachers, doctors, firefighters and social interest groups.
Patrick Blair is a student at Concordia University, originally from Connecticut.
“I may not be a citizen here, I may not be paying taxes to this government, but I am paying tuition and I feel obligated to stand with fellow students and workers, because it affects all of us,” he said.
Other demonstrations are planned for this week across Quebec by the coalition, as well as more creative actions such as flash mobs.
“When the population gets together and takes the time even in the cold in the middle of February to speak out, then how can you not listen? It’s the population that’s speaking,” said Lombardi.