Session report: what caught our attention

On the eve of the start of the 2023 school year, headlines announced a shortfall of more than 8,500 teachers in Quebec classrooms, according to figures from school service centers. Only after the fact did we learn that these figures were incorrect, dating back to August. This incident brought home another point: the lack of data control in education.

Stakeholders in the network are pointing the finger at disproportionately high class ratios, an increase in the number of students in difficulty, and a decline in the quality of teaching due to a lack of support. In the eye of the storm, Education Minister Bernard Drainville admits that the immediate objective is not necessarily to have one teacher per class, but at least one adult. As of October, according to estimates from school service centers, over 1,600 positions were still to be filled.

A huge change for students: cell phones will be officially banned from the classroom from December 31, 2023. Minister Drainville has issued a directive to school service centers stipulating this. This measure is intended to create an environment more conducive to teaching and learning, with the aim of fostering students' academic success. Some respond that cell phones can be used constructively when used for educational purposes, while others are delighted to be rid of this source of distraction.

During Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky's much-anticipated visit to Ottawa, parliamentarians had the opportunity to pay tribute to several Ukrainian heroes. Among them, a former Ukrainian soldier who fought in the Second World War... on the Nazi side.

As the story unfolded around the world, and under unbearable pressure from opposition parties, the media and the Liberal government itself, the Speaker of the House of Commons, Anthony Rota, was forced to resign in disgrace and was replaced by Greg Fergus. In the National Assembly, MPs voted unanimously to dissociate themselves from this embarrassing tribute.

Early October was marked by a surprising PQ victory in Jean-Talon, the Quebec City riding left vacant by the departure of Caquist Joëlle Boutin in July. This was a surprising victory for the PQ, given the composition of the riding, which had never been won by the party in its entire history, in a region where the PQ has been struggling to make gains for ages. With only 4 MPs out of 125, the PQ still managed to impose its agenda throughout the political autumn. Who would have thought, less than 18 months ago, that Paul St-Pierre Plamondon would now overtake François Legault in voters' preferences for premier?

On October 7, 2023, Hamas launched a surprise ground attack against Israel, the response to which was instantaneous and tenfold. This is not a new conflict, but one that is escalating into unprecedented violence. Images that shock - as much as the situation divides populations - across the globe.

A ceasefire was quickly called for, but it was only temporary enough to allow the release of some 50 hostages at the end of November. Unfortunately, tensions quickly flared up again, leading to a resumption of hostilities despite diplomatic efforts to contain them. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who had been calling for a "humanitarian truce", finally called for a "lasting ceasefire" in December, with Canada also supporting a motion to this effect at the UN General Assembly.

Nearing 15 % in voting intentions, the Quebec Liberal Party (QLP) seems to be floundering at the bottom of the barrel of popular support. Eager to regain its raison d'être and embody the values that unite its members, the party has commissioned former La Presse editorialist and Senator André Pratte and MNA Madwa-Nika Cadet to produce a report on its revival. Praised by Jean Charest, the report entitled S'affirmer, rassembler, prospérer (Asserting, Gathering, Prospering), tabled on the occasion of the last Liberal convention, had little resonance with the public, with the media preferring to focus on potential leadership candidates. The party is also marked by an internal crisis, as the only candidate openly interested in the leadership, MP Fred Beauchemin, is the subject of a harassment complaint filed by the president of the Young Liberals. Mr. Beauchemin was expelled from the Liberal caucus on October 7.

On October 27, Minister Drainville presented his School Violence and Bullying Prevention Plan, based on four pillars: documentation, training, awareness and support. The Plan represents an investment of $30 million $ over five years. Long-awaited in the community, it proposes a series of measures to improve violence prevention in schools by strengthening the skills of school staff to intervene more effectively in certain situations.

In the wake of his party's defeat in Jean-Talon, Premier Legault resurrected the idea of a third highway link between Quebec City and Lévis to the surprise of everyone, including members of his own caucus. The abandonment of this project had had serious consequences for the CAQ, but the idea of reviving it didn't quite have the desired effect.

A few weeks later, the tramway project, whose estimated costs had risen considerably, was taken out of the hands of the City of Quebec, and its destiny entrusted to the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec, prime contractor for the REM in the metropolis. Over the next six months, the Caisse will have to determine the best structural transportation project for Quebec City, including fluidity between the two shores of the river (read: the form that the famous third link could take).

Following an inflationary economic update, Finance Minister Éric Girard announced a subsidy of between $5 and $7 million $ to host two off-season Los Angeles Kings games in Quebec City. The news sowed discontent for several weeks. Opposition parties chorused against the government's inconsistency, while the Minister of Finance had announced a tightening of public spending a week earlier. This decision even created the first public rifts within the Caquist caucus. Despite general disapproval, the Finance Minister persists.

In November, Canada's Finance Minister, Chrystia Freeland, presented an economic statement with a dual objective: to offset the rising cost of living and to address the housing crisis. The measures proposed, while relevant, were relatively modest, including the launch of the Affordable Housing Fund, earmarked for the creation of community housing. Earlier that month, Quebec also announced a major investment in housing ($900 million $), matching that of Ottawa and confirmed by an agreement between the two governments. In addition to measures announced to address the rise in homelessness, these joint investments should enable the construction of social and affordable housing (8,000 by 2028), a demand shouted from the rooftops by groups working in the field.

On the Quebec side, it's impossible to ignore the sharp legislative battle, described as a "dialogue of the deaf" between Housing Minister France-Hélène Duranceau and Solidarity MNA Andrés Fontecilla, during the study of Bill 31. This bill should finally sound the death knell for lease assignments as they currently exist in Quebec. Unfortunately for the Minister, passage of her bill has been postponed until after the holidays.

With two weeks to go before the Québec solidaire (QS) convention at the end of November, Catherine Dorion, a former member of the left-wing political party, has published her hard-hitting book Les têtes brulées : carnets d'espoir punk. In it, she looks back on her mixed time at the National Assembly, including her difficult relationship with the media, the rigid framework of parliamentary work, and also with QS co-spokesman Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois. The book comes as a bombshell at a time when members are due to elect their new female co-spokesperson and Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois's place at the head of the party is being called into question, even by the man himself.

In the end, the troops emerged from the convention less divided than before, with 90.1% support for Nadeau-Dubois and a new extra-parliamentary spokesperson from "rural areas", former Rouyn-Noranda-Témiscamingue MP Émilise Lessard-Therrien (elected by a slim margin of 3 votes over her rival Ruba Ghazal). Which of the two will wear the hat of potential prime minister in the next election? Answer at the QS pre-election convention, about a year before the 2026 ballot.

Passed by the federal parliament last June, Bill C-18 aims to force GAFAM to compensate Canadian media for the use of their content. With Meta (the company that owns Facebook and Instagram, among others) deciding to block Canadian media content on its platforms in retaliation, and Google threatening to remove their articles from its search engine, the federal government is engaging in a tug-of-war that will intensify an already well-felt crisis in the media. A crisis illustrated by the closure of the Métro newspaper, massive layoffs at Bell, TVA and even the public broadcaster CBC/Radio-Canada.

In support of the media, several governments, municipalities, political parties, associations and companies chose to boycott Meta's advertising tools. With just a few weeks to go before the law comes into force, and following a battle waged head-on by the Minister of Canadian Heritage, Pascale St-Onge, a compromise is finally reached with Google. In Quebec, the Minister of Culture and Communications, Mathieu Lacombe, is considering a media assistance fund, long called for by many players. The question remains: should the public broadcaster receive any money from Google? Québec has already made its position known.

The fall of 2023 will have been marked by a union mobilization movement described as historic. The Common Front (CSN, CSQ, FTQ, APTS), the FIQ and the FAE are engaged in a marathon of negotiations with the government which, with progress deemed unsatisfactory, have led to several strike sequences - even an unlimited strike, in the case of the FAE. More than ever, union demands and government offers diverge, while negotiations seem to be stalling. The cause: wage and working conditions deemed unbearable, whether in the education or healthcare network.

The government's recent choices, including the 30 % increase in MPs' salaries, an economic update revealing a slowdown in public investment, and the subsidy granted to the Los Angeles Kings, are serving as ammunition for the unions in the face of offers deemed insufficient by the President of the Conseil du trésor, Sonia Lebel. Especially since her colleagues don't always help her with their spontaneous declarations. In this difficult-to-follow saga, an agreement before the holiday season would be an unexpected gift for everyone.

Introduced by Minister Drainville last May, Bill 23 essentially aims to create a national institute of excellence in education, facilitate access to and use of data within the network, and give the Minister the power to appoint the heads of school service centers and overturn their decisions if they conflict with the government's objectives and orientations.

The bill, denounced by some in the education community as centralizing, is primarily concerned with the governance of the network, not with the much-criticized shortage of manpower. Until the end of the bill's study, several unions and players in the education world will be asking the Minister to abandon his reform. This was not to be, as the bill was adopted on the last day of the session.

Last session, Health Minister Christian Dubé promised to "shake the pillars of the temple" with his Bill 15. In the end, it was under a gag order that the behemoth of nearly 1,200 articles was adopted in the early hours of Saturday morning, leaving aside the detailed study of nearly 400 articles and several hundred other amendments.

Opposition party criticism of the way the bill was passed prompted Christian Dubé to take to social networks on Sunday evening, in a video extolling his reform. Bill 15 will introduce a number of organizational changes in the healthcare sector, notably at the highest level, with the creation of the Santé Québec agency, which will manage all network operations from now on. It remains to be seen what concrete changes this much-debated reform will have on the daily lives of network employees and, above all, for patient access to care.