13 hours ago
Ruba Ghazal wants QS to endorse pro-worker stance
Quebec Solidaire Leader Ruba Ghazal questions the government at the legislature in Quebec City, Tuesday, April 29, 2025 (Jacques Boissinot/The Canadian Press)
Québec Solidaire (QS) co-spokesperson Ruba Ghazal wants her party's members to endorse a pro-worker stance at the party's National Council meeting this weekend.
'We need to prioritize and focus on one major issue, and that is workers. That doesn't mean we're putting everything else aside, far from it,' she told The Canadian Press.
She insists that this is not a vote of confidence in her leadership. 'It's the members who decide. So we shouldn't assume anything, but I'm not worried about that,' said Ghazal.
After Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois resigned as party co-spokesperson and the party suffered a disastrous result in the Terrebonne by-election last March, Ghazal said that QS needed to rediscover its 'North star.'
Since then, she has been trying to focus her discourse on defending workers.
'Especially since we are facing a CAQ government that is anti-worker. We have seen this with the increase in labour disputes in the public sector,' says Ruba Ghazal.
QS was quick to denounce Bill 89, which was passed last week and limits the right to strike in certain circumstances.
According to interim co-spokesperson Guillaume Cliche-Rivard, the 'Manifesto for a Quebec in solidarity with its workers' that will be submitted to members is 'also a promise of action on the ground.'
'We intend to be much closer to workers, on the ground, visiting their workplaces and meeting with them,' he says.
With its poll numbers struggling, QS hopes that this new direction will shift the polls in its favour. A Léger poll published in May puts QS at only 10 per cent of voting intentions.
The Qc125 poll aggregator projects only six seats for the political party. QS currently has 12 members in the National Assembly.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published in French June 8, 2025.
