 All Fool's Day
"If a million people believe a foolish thing, it is still a foolish thing."
- Anatole France
Jean Charest was a popular politician once, he was young, energetic, and considered to be a true liberal, despite being a disciple of Mulroney’s. He was a “Progressive Conservative” with a heart, he understood young people, being one himself, and was appointed by Mulroney to be the youngest cabinet member in Canadian history, at 28, in 1986, as Minister of State for Youth. People liked him. People liked his hair.
But something happened on the way to Montreal…
In 2003, because the people of Quebec will always be a little nuts, we voted for him to be the Premier of our province, with a majority government no less, one to compliment to federal version in Ottawa. Without really shocking anyone, the approval rating fell sharply from Autumn 2003 to the spring of 2004, when it fell to 25%. The reason for this was obvious to anyone with a brain, it was even obvious those who voted for him. Charest and his “neoliberal” goons hadn’t even taken off their jackets before they knuckled down and went to work pissing off pretty much everyone who makes less than a few hundred grand a year in this province, especially the unions, environmentalists, parents who rely on daycare, the working poor, natives, and of course, students.
Charest’s mandate to thoroughly fuck the poor and marginalized in this province was met with massive resistance, (something that shouldn’t have surprised him- someone who was born here in the 1950s). This has led to a new kind of solidarity amongst the usual suspects as well as a few amateurs. The “J’ai jamais vote pour ca!” (“I never voted for this”, sorry for the lack of accents) movement has taken over.
It seems like there’s always some anti-Charest protest going on here, the latest manifestation being a bunch of energetic youngsters getting all up in his face. This month Charest announced a $103 million cut to student loans and bursaries, the kids responded by staging well organized large-scale demonstrations, and by releasing 103 mice into the premier’s office.
The students have taken to wearing red patches to display their allegiance, so if you see some severe looking kid wearing one, please, buy him or her lunch why don’t you.
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