The coming summer of protest

By Montreal Simon

As you know I was so happy to see thousands of Canadians taking to the streets to let Stephen Harper and his foul Cons exactly what we think of them.

Because I will never understand why we have remained so passive and so quiet for so many years, while Harper and his Cons raped our Canada and its values.

Instead of protesting like they do in other countries.

Not when his behaviour has been so brutish, not when he’s now trying to use fear to scare people into voting for him, not when he’s trying to turn us into a police state.

And not when he’s threatening to torch the country by fanning the flames of intolerance.

In his unquenchable thirst for power and his contempt for progressive and long-standing Canadian values, Stephen Harper has taken wedge politics to a brand-new level. That he and his government are remaking Canada along the way is no sideshow. Power and a different Canada are his goals.

From guns to niqabs to a so-called anti-terror bill that redefines what may constitute an act of terror (for example, a wildcat workers’ strike) and gives new superpowers to Canada’s spy agency, CSIS, the Harper Conservatives are more than stoking the flames of fear, they have lit a forest fire.

For how can anyone remain silent in the face of such monstrous depravity? When the country should be shaking with the sounds of protest.

So you can imagine how happy I was to see these students back in the streets of Montreal on Saturday …

This time not demanding that tuition fees be lowered, but demanding an end to austerity.

Several thousand students protesters gathered in downtown Montreal on Saturday afternoon to voice their displeasure with government austerity measures.
Organizers of the protest said this will be one of several demonstrations to be held over the next few months.

“Today, we’re proud to launch a raucous spring,” said Fannie Poirier, spokesperson for the Spring 2015 protest committee. “Austerity measures have been presented as the lesser of evils to confront a deficient economy. But what we’re seeing … is a massive impoverishment of the population, full-frontal attacks on working conditions and a loss of security for society’s most vulnerable people.”

And on a miserably cold wet snowy day, it was a magnificent sight to see so many marching.

Despite the heavy police presence.

Because I know as Spring turns to Summer even more will turn out as they did last time …

It will encourage others to do the same, and it will be a summer of protest.

And as the election approaches, that protest can become this one …

In fact I rather like those signs because ARRET reminds me of ARREST, and that’s what Harper and his Cons deserve.

The federal Conservative government should be judged on its record. A record that has undermined human rights and democracy.

It is a record that has made our tax system a lot less fair, rewarding the wealthy. A record of economic failure. A record that includes a disregard for the environment. It is a record of austerity that continues to shred the social fabric of the nation. A record of unspeakable partisanship. A record that has fuelled the flames of intolerance. A record of scandals.

But what I like the most about the Quebec student movement is the way it has been able to bring young and old together…