The Bloc Quebecois Party of Canada
Published by Kaos13 on May 26, 2011 in US Politics-
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The Bloc Quebecois Party of Canada.
The Bloc Quebecois Party (Website)
The Bloc Québécois (French pronunciation: [blɔk kebekwa], Quebec Bloc) is a federal political party in Canada devoted to the protection of Quebec’s interests in the House of Commons of Canada, and the promotion of Quebec sovereignty. The Bloc was originally a party made of Quebec nationalists who defected from the federal Progressive Conservative Party and Liberal Party. BQ founder Lucien Bouchard was a cabinet minister in the federal Progressive Conservative government of Brian Mulroney. The BQ seeks to create the conditions necessary for the political secession of Quebec from Canada and campaigns actively only within the province during federal elections.
The Bloc Québécois is supported by a wide range of voters in Quebec, from large sections of organised labour to more conservative rural voters. Members and supporters are known as Bloquistes (French: [blɔkist]). English-speaking Canadians commonly refer to the BQ as “the Bloc”. The party is sometimes known as the BQ in the English-speaking media.
In 2011, the Bloc lost official party status as they have fewer than 12 seats. The Bloc is currently the second smallest party (in front of the one seat Green Party) in the Canadian House of Commons. It has strong informal ties to the Parti Québécois (PQ, whose members are known as “Péquistes”), the provincial party that advocates for the secession of Quebec from Canada and its independence, but the two are not linked organizationally.
Leader: Vivian Barbot
House of Commons: 4/308
Senate: 0/105
Platform:
Economy
• Re-establish the funding of economic and social development organizations.
• Develop a comprehensive support plan for the manufacturing and forest industries.
• Implement one tax return.
• Take various measures to reduce Québec’s dependence on oil.
Environment
• Fight climate change – apply the Kyoto Protocol, with a true carbon market, based on a territorial approach.
• Provide tax incentives to help families convert their home heating system from heating oil to electricity, which is mainly produced from renewable energy.
• Provide a refundable tax credit for transit passes.
• Re-establish and improve the eco AUTO Rebate Program for fuel-efficient vehicles.
Families
• Implement a 10-year, interest-free loan program for first-time home buyers.
• Provide financing to maintain and build social housing.
• Adopt a federal pay equity act.
• Maintain the rights acquired by women, particularly with respect to abortion.
• Increase payments under the Employment Insurance system.
• Implement an income support program for older workers.
• Provide an $8,000 tax credit for new graduates who return to the regions to work and live there.
• Transfer $3.5 billion for post-secondary education.
• Immediately increase the monthly benefits for the least wealthy seniors by $110.
• Provide full retroactivity of benefits for seniors who suffered serious financial harm.
Education/the Arts
• Remove the GST on books.
• Re-establish cultural programs.
• Permit income averaging for artists’ income.
Justice
• Keep the gun registry.
• Oppose capital punishment.
• Oppose toughening the Young Offenders Act.
• Step up gang enforcement efforts: Make it illegal to wear insignia associating an individual with a criminal gang.
• Confiscate goods acquired by criminal means by reversing the onus.
• Implement a series of measures to provide police forces with the means to fight street gangs.
• Abolish release after one-sixth of a sentence has been served.
• Eliminate the almost-automatic statutory release (release after two-thirds of a sentence has been served).
• Abolish the double credit practice which involves giving double the amount of credit for time spent in custody awaiting trial.
• Examine all federal programs that could affect individuals’ right to live in Quebec’s regions and use the land.
Other
• Pass an act that allows for the application of Bill 101 throughout Quebec – to protect our language.
• Pass an amendment allowing Quebec to opt out of the Canadian Multiculturalism Act – to ensure our integration model is respected.
• Reach an agreement to transfer control over telecommunications to Québec – to control our cultural tools
• Completely eliminate the fiscal imbalance and eliminate the spending power that the federal government has arrogated to itself.
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