The Quebec Election: Spring Upsurge Echoes, But Faintly

Abstract

Richard Fidler’s article “The Quebec Election: Spring Upsurge Echoes, but Faintly” examines Canada’s largest protest movement— the student strikes and protests in Quebec—and concludes that “Quebec students and environmental activists won important victories in the immediate aftermath of the province’s 4 September general election.” Upon her election, Pauline Marois, leader of the Parti Quebecois government, announced the cancellation of tuition fee increases introduced by the previous Liberal government, and also repealed the repressive provisions of Law 12 (formerly Bill 78). On the environmental front, the Jeffrey Asbestos Mine will not be reopened, and the province’s last nuclear reactor will be decommissioned.