Latest news with #QuébecSolidaire
CTV News
3 days ago
- General
- CTV News
The Québec solidaire candidate in Terrebonne switches to the Parti Québécois
Archives - Parti Québécois leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon celebrates with candidate Catherine Gentilcore, second from left, after she won the by-election in Terrebonne on Monday, March 17, 2025. (The Canadian Press/Christinne Muschi) The candidate who represented Québec solidaire (QS) in the Terrebonne by-election, Nadia Poirier, is leaving the party to join the Parti Québécois (PQ). Poirier made the announcement on social media on Sunday, just over two months after the by-election, which PQ candidate Catherine Gentilcore easily won. A few days after the by-election, in which she finished fourth with 4.55 per cent of the vote, Poirier publicly lamented the lack of support from QS during the campaign. On Reddit, Poirier pointed out, among other things, that no QS MNAs had come to Terrebonne with her to campaign, except co-spokesperson Ruba Ghazal for a 'solidarity beer.' On Sunday, Poirier revealed that this was 'only the tip of the iceberg of what [she] criticizes the party for.' 'But since I prefer to wash my dirty laundry in private, I shared the rest of my grievances with them privately. The result remains the same: I am leaving Québec Solidaire,' she announced. Poirier justified her move to the PQ by saying that she had read the party's national platform and found 'particularly progressive elements, ideas that overlap with those of QS, refreshing proposals.' 'When you put aside the QS-PQ rivalry, you realize that we are not so far apart,' she wrote. Poirier stated that she will continue to campaign for independence. She also said she hopes for a 'sovereignist convergence' with a view to a third referendum. Poirier also ran for QS in Terrebonne in the 2022 general election. She finished third, behind the Coalition Avenir Québec and the PQ. This report by The Canadian Press was first published in French June 2, 2025.
CTV News
01-05-2025
- Politics
- CTV News
Québec Solidaire introduces bill for the right to work from home
Québec Solidaire is tabling a bill Thursday to regulate a person's right to work from home as part of a 'hybrid' model. In a press briefing, the party's labour critic, Alexandre Leduc, pointed out that there's an issue of 'balance' when it comes to hybrid work. 'As we speak, it's 100 per cent the decision of the boss. The boss can decide it's 100 per cent work from home, and the next morning, he can decide it's 100 per cent work from the office,' he said. 'We think it's not a good policy. You should have balance between the worker and the boss.' Leduc rebuffed any suggestion that workers should instead be given the power to work from home full time. 'We are offering a hybrid method, so the workers…can ask to work from home from a hybrid perspective,' he explained. If the request is refused, 'for bad reasons,' according to Leduc, workers would have the right to file a complaint with the Commission des normes, de l'équité, de la santé et de la sécurité du travail (CNESST). 'The aim is not to create squabbles throughout Quebec,' he said, 'but to reach a rapid decision in these situations, in the same way as for all other labour standards.' The party also wants to ban the use of remote monitoring software by employers. 'It's bad management practice, and would probably be considered harassment: nobody wants their boss watching them through a screen all the time,' he said. Leduc notes that the bill would not apply to jobs that require workers to be on location full time, such as nurses or bus drivers. Wednesday, Québec Solidaire co-spokesperson Ruba Ghazal told The Canadian Press she deplored the fact that 'employers' previous reticence about this way of working has returned.' 'This leads to conflicts where employers want people to return to their place of work more exercise more control,' she said. Work from home and hybrid models became popular during the COVID-19 pandemic, which forced workers across the world into isolation to avoid spreading the disease. As for Québec Solidaire's bill, those tabled in the National Assembly by opposition parties are rarely 'called upon' by the government. That is, they are rarely debated and studied in parliamentary committees before being adopted. Though any member of parliament is allowed to table a bill, in practice, legislative initiative is the prerogative of the government, which decides, with its house leader, how to proceed. With files from The Canadian Press.
CBC
27-03-2025
- Health
- CBC
Revamp of Maisonneuve-Rosemont Hospital 'not going fast enough,' Quebec health minister admits
Maintenance costs are growing at the Maisonneuve-Rosemont Hospital in Montreal's east end while construction for the long-awaited modernization project appears to be delayed — again. "I'm pushing the project as fast as I can," Quebec Health Minister Christian Dubé told reporters Thursday morning, adding he'd hoped construction would begin this summer. During an exchange at the National Assembly Wednesday with Québec Solidaire health critic Vincent Marissal, Dubé said he needs "a few more months" to continue analyzing the project before the shovels can hit the ground. He said he's hoping to come up with a timeline and precise start date for construction this year. "I seriously thought we would be able to see excavators on the hospital grounds this year," said Dubé. "I'll be the first to say it's not going fast enough." Marissal shot back at Dubé, saying the construction site is "still being planned, but nothing is happening." Quebec unveiled its budget on Tuesday, which showed the anticipated project to revamp the hospital remained in the "planning" phase in the Quebec Infrastructure Plan (PQI), despite construction slated to start this summer. According to Radio-Canada, there is still a possibility that some construction work will begin later this year. The Maisonneuve-Rosemont Hospital, whose facilities date back to the 1950s, serves nearly a third of Montreal's population Montreal. Close to $140 million has been invested since 2014 to help maintain the aging hospital, according to documents obtained by Radio-Canada. Dubé officially launched the revamp project in 2023, telling Radio-Canada at the time that construction should begin in 2024. Last year, Christine Fréchette, the minister responsible for the metropolis and Montreal region, said construction would begin in summer 2025 instead. "There are so many announcements that were rushed, including mine and I'll say it: rushed because we didn't have the right numbers. We didn't have the right analysis," Dubé told Marissal Wednesday.
CBC
27-03-2025
- Business
- CBC
Montreal archdiocese launches not-for-profit real estate arm aimed at maximizing social impact
As Montreal grapples with growing homelessness, the Catholic archdiocese in the city is forming a new real estate arm that it says will help ensure any redevelopment of church properties addresses "pressing community needs." The creation of the Roman Catholic Real Estate Corp. of Montreal, announced Thursday, is the first non-profit subsidiary created by a Catholic archdiocese "to leverage real estate development as a tool for community benefit" and heritage preservation, the church says in a news release. With congregations dwindling and buildings aging, pastoral work is becoming more challenging, Archbishop Christian Lepine said in an interview Wednesday inside Montreal's Mary Queen of the World Cathedral. Earlier this month, the left-leaning opposition party Québec Solidaire called on the Coalition Avenir Québec government to look to underused or empty church spaces to help fight Montreal's homelessness crisis. Lepine said churches have always been willing "to offer space, to offer room," in times of crisis, and there are already churches that are welcoming homeless people. Some parishes have converted buildings that formerly housed clergy into social housing, he noted, but churches are only part of the solution. "We cannot do that alone," he said. "It's also with the city involved, with organizations." The Catholic Church in Montreal includes about 180 parishes, said Stefano Marrone, who currently oversees church real estate and will run the new non-profit arm. Marrone is helping parishes with redevelopment or real estate projects. The goal, he said, is to work with different levels of government and other potential partners "so that any development is going to have social impact for the community." Robert Beaudry, the Montreal executive committee member responsible for fighting homelessness, noted there's already a long history of the church serving as a haven for vulnerable people. "There are a number of community groups that started in church basements, soup kitchens too," he said in a phone interview. "Remembering where community action in Quebec was born, it was in church basements." Beaudry said church buildings are usually located in the heart of their communities and are often sold at prices that make them attractive for repurposing. But he noted that some have been poorly maintained, and many would need extensive renovations, including additional washrooms, universal access and emergency exits, if they were to become shelters. WATCH | Towering churches sit empty across Montreal. How can they be used? What does the future hold for Montreal's empty churches? 2 years ago Duration 6:03 Beaudry said the need for housing and shelter is so great that governments need to evaluate all options on the table, including churches and any unused government buildings, to see if they can help address the crisis. "It's not an option without its challenges, but it's an option that deserves to be explored," he said. Social acceptability and cohabitation issues at play Those challenges can go beyond building codes. Recently, the city and province paid around $2.5 million to purchase a former church in the Rosemont neighbourhood to help serve the needs of vulnerable people. Even before a formal announcement was made, the news drew strong community opposition to the idea of the building serving as a homeless shelter. Beaudry said social acceptability is at the heart of every project, but he acknowledged it can be hard to reach when opposition and media attention start even before a project is defined. Mario Beauchamp, social pastoral agent in the city's Côte-des-Neiges neighbourhood, believes churches are a last-ditch solution. "For some churches that are about to close, sure, but for those that are fully in use with lots of parishioners, it's another thing. There's the issue of social cohabitation at play," Beauchamp said. One of the churches in his parish, St. Pascal Baylon, was used for a few winters as an overnight warming centre, ending in 2023. It was run by a local community organization, providing food and shelter to a few dozen people a night. "There was no question of renting that space year-round because the church had some concerns," Beauchamp said. He said there were a few incidents of damage or vandalism stemming from the shelter.
CBC
20-03-2025
- Politics
- CBC
Québec Solidaire's Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois won't seek re-election, sources say
Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois, the co-spokesperson for Québec Solidaire, will not seek re-election in the next provincial election scheduled for the fall of 2026, sources have told Radio-Canada. Nadeau-Dubois will, however, complete his mandate as MNA for the Montreal riding of Gouin. The information was first reported by the French media outlet Pivot. He is scheduled to hold a news conference later today. The decision comes just as Nadeau-Dubois returns from paternity leave. The last two years have been tumultuous for the party, with highly publicized internal debates about how it is being managed. Québec Solidaire also had a disappointing showing in the recent Terrebonne byelection, where it received less than five per cent of the vote. The byelection was won by Catherine Gentilcore of the Parti Québécois. Québec Solidaire has the third-most seats in the National Assembly, but polls suggest it wouldn't maintain its 12 seats at the National Assembly if an election were held today. The left-wing party doesn't have a traditional leadership structure, with two spokespersons instead of a party leader. Ruba Ghazal, the MNA for Mercier, is the other co-spokesperson. Nadeau-Dubois, 34, rose to prominence in Quebec during the student protests of 2012. He was elected to the National Assembly in 2017.
