Tag Archives: Québec-solidaire

March 2, 2009 | Media

2/3 support Journal de Montréal workers (by default)

Branchez-Vous has the EXCLUSIF today: a poll it commissioned shows that about two thirds (literally 66.7%) of Quebecers support the 253 workers who were locked out by the Journal de Montréal in January.

But the full results of the survey show that about the same percentage (65.5%) support the employees and their union in labour conflicts in general. So it’s probably fair to say that the level of support is more of a default position than any serious analysis of the conflict. This is backed up by results showing that while the vast majority (82.7%) of Quebecers are aware of the lockout, three quarters of them (70% in Montreal) say they know little or nothing about the reasons behind it.

Who wins in this is a good question. The union will no doubt consider this a big win, because it looks good on its face and because initially it seemed the public might turn its backs on the union because of the generous working conditions (32-hour weeks, high salaries, etc.). Despite Quebecor’s efforts, this seems not to be the case.

But public support is irrelevant if people are still buying newspapers and advertisers are still putting ads. We don’t know how this is affecting the Journal financially, but that will be the big decider in all this.

The online poll of 1125 adult Quebecers taken Feb. 10-16 (margin of error 3% 19 times out of 20) also breaks down its answers by region (Montreal, Quebec and other), though the only one that shows a significant difference is that people who live in and near Quebec City support locked-out Journal workers more than they would workers in general. This is probably a result of the long Journal de Québec conflict, which also began with a lockout.

Meanwhile

During Québec solidaire’s general meeting Sunday in Quebec City, the far-left political party refused access to a Journal de Québec reporter and photographer, saying that their work would end up in the Journal de Montréal. The Fédération professionnelle des journalistes du Québec has apparently denounced this move.
In case you base all your decisions on what former Pittsburgh Penguins general manager Michel Therrien thinks, he’s supporting the workers. He also says the Journal offered him a weekly column (to replace Jacques Demers and Martin Brodeur?), which he refused.

January 26, 2009 | Media

Journal workers get important crazy leftist vote

In what is perhaps the least surprising press release ever written, Québec solidaire has come out in support of locked out workers at the Journal de Montréal.

Meanwhile, the Rue Frontenac Facebook group has already passed 1,000 members, even before the site has really launched.

May 12, 2008 | In the news, Montreal

By-elections today

Gaétan Legault of Québec solidaire, who is apparently either a communist or a separatist (or a communist-separatist) is just one of 20 candidates running in three by-elections today in Quebec: Hull, Bourget (east-end Montreal) and Pointe-aux-Trembles.

Aside from the Big 3 parties, there are candidates in each riding from Québec solidaire, the left-wing party, the Green Party, which still takes itself seriously despite never winning anything, and the new Parti indépendantiste, which thinks the PQ is too soft on sovereignty. There are also two independents running in Pointe-aux-Trembles.

If you live in one of these ridings and for some reason haven’t been bombarded with information about this vote, check out the by-elections website.

February 2, 2008 | Canadiens, Opinion

Nothing says environmentalism like the NHL

For those of you wondering when Québec solidaire would sell out to the lowest common denominator: They’ve added “bring hockey games back to Radio-Canada” to their platform.

As for their argument that so many people don’t have access to RDS, I’d point out that only 13% of households with televisions in Canada don’t have cable or satellite service, and that number is going down. It’s not trivial, but it’s not that big either.

November 20, 2007 | Media

Kicking a reporter out: Good for journalism?

Québec solidaire kicked out a Canoe reporter from a Quebec City meeting on Sunday. The reason was simple: the reporter was replacing locked-out Journal de Québec workers, and because QS is all crazy-leftist and such, they’re not about to accept a scab.

But is that an acceptable reason for kicking a journalist out of an open political meeting? Where do you draw the line between legitimate interference and scary Stephen Harper-style cherrypicking of reporters?