Canada

By Roger Annis

June 21, 2012 -- Rabble.ca, posted at Links International Journal of Socialist Renewal with the author's permission -- On June 20, the National Coordination Committee of Québec solidaire issued a statement in response to a "Call for a United Front" in the next election in Quebec, saying it is open to a “limited and timely electoral arrangement” with two other pro-Quebec sovereignty parties. The statement is titled (translation), "Defeat the Liberals, yes. But above all, build a progressive Quebec!"

The call has received close to 11,000 signatures online. It urges the three pro-sovereignty parties – Parti québécois, Québec solidaire and Option nationale – to enter into an electoral agreement such that only one candidate of the parties would contest electoral districts against the ruling Liberal Party and the right-wing Coalition pour l’avenir du Québec (CAQ).

The mandate of the current Liberal government ends in 17 months. Widespread speculation has it calling an election as soon as August.

April 28, 2012 -- The following is a statement issued recently by CLASSE. CLASSE is the largest of the student coalitions or federations leading the student strike movement that has spread across Quebec. It represents more than half of the 180,000 students now on strike. The statement was translated by Richard Fidler for the Life on the Left web site.

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Toward a social strike: It’s a student strike, a people’s struggle

Hike in tuition fees is part of “the cultural revolution”

"Thomas Mulcair is a man of the establishment, not of the social movements."

[Read more on Canada's New Democratic Party HERE.]

By Paul Kellogg

March 27, 2012 -- PolEcon.net, posted at Links International Journal of Socialist Renewal with the author's permission -- Canada's social-democratic New Democratic Party (NDP) has a new federal leader. Thomas Mulcair, has no roots in the social movements, a long history of being a senior Liberal Party member and is someone  openly committed to pushing the NDP considerably to the right. The implications for all interested in progressive social change are sobering.