Quebec indépendantistes maintain Conservatives in office

This is not the first time that the Bloc Québécois (BQ) has backed Stephen Harper’s neo-conservative government in office. The day after the Conservatives took office last February, the BQ announced it was “going to give the competitor his chance.” Subsequently, the BQ voted for the Conservative Throne Speech. Then in May, it endorsed the Conservative budget, which slashed corporate and personal income taxes, scuttled a national day scheme, and lavished additional funds on the military and national security apparatus.

There is a large consensus within the Canadian establishment for the Conservative agenda: the adoption of an aggressive, militarist foreign policy, including the current Canadian Armed Forces’ CAF counter-insurgency campaign in southern Afghanistan, further reductions in social spending, and massive tax cuts for big business and the wealthiest sections of the population.

The support of the BQ for a party espousing such an agenda demolishes its pretensions to be a progressive, worker-friendly party. The fact is that the Quebec elite, for whom the BQ speaks, supports no less strongly than Bay Street and the oil barons of Alberta the sharp move to the right that the Harper government is spearheading—including the adoption of a policy aimed at increasing Canada’s weight in global affairs by embroiling Canada in foreign wars and otherwise aligning Canada more closely with the Bush administration.

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http://wsws.org/articles/2006/oct2006/queb-o02.shtml