The Bloc Québécois: populism and nationalism in the service of the Québec bourgeoisie

The BQ presents itself as a progressive party that defends “the interests of Quebeckers” and is supported by virtually the entire Quebec union bureaucracy. Some unions give the BQ their official support and donate union facilities and funds. Others officially refrain from supporting any party, but insist that both the Liberals and the Conservatives should be opposed: in other words, they call for a vote for the Bloc. The BQ also benefits from the support of the Parti Québécois (PQ), its sister party at the provincial level, which imposed savage budget cuts in social spending when it last formed Quebec’s government (1994 to 2003).

Far from being a progressive party, the BQ defends the interests of big business and of that section of the Québec bourgeoisie that hopes to benefit from a rearranging of the nation-state system in North America and the creation of a capitalist République du Québec. Formed in 1993 by renegade Quebec MPs from the Progressive Conservatives and the Liberal Party of Canada, and supported at its birth by then-Quebec Liberal Premier (Robert Bourassa), the Bloc Québécois displays a deep hostility and contempt for the working class of both Québec and the rest of Canada. The BQ supported the “zero deficit” campaign, the name given to the PQ’s program of severe cuts to social spending, and privately hopes that the Conservatives, a right-wing party with close ties to the American Republican Party, will form Canada’s next federal government.

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http://wsws.org/articles/2006/jan2006/bq-j18.shtml