Thousands take to the streets to demand action to tackle climate change during Quebec Election

On Saturday, a large demonstration took place in Montreal where thousands of people showed up to demand protection of the environment and our planet. This is part of campaign called The Planet Joins the Campaign, which is based on a public mobilization to hold the parties running for the provincial government accountable. As the Facebook event explained, “We ask that the political parties present a coherent environmental plan, because now more than ever, our planet needs coherence.”

Community, environmental activists and organizations (NGO’s) gathered at the Parc Emilie Gamelin in downtown Montreal to start a march that passed by several neighbourhoods and busy intersections of the city. People were chanting “We march for the planet!”, “Change Now” and at the end of the demonstration many speakers discussed the importance of tackling climate change immediately. As Quebec gets close to its election on October 1 this public pressure is necessary to make sure that we are heard and people will remain organized to demand action not only during the election, but also after they go to the ballot box. Saturday’s demonstration was part of a series of actions during the month of September.

Quebec Solidaire is the only party pushing to a just transition plan aiming at accessibility, provincially owned transit/transportation system, more electric vehicles, finding a balance between human usage of land and agriculture, optimizing recycling processes, reducing dependency on fossil fuels and switching to renewable resources, and making sure this is a just transition for working class people across Quebec--with 300,000 good green jobs. As their platform explains “La lutte contre les changements climatiques est le plus grand défi de notre siècle. Face à la crise climatique, il y a urgence d'agir” (The fight against climate change is the biggest challenge of our century. In the face of a climate crisis, there’s the urgency to act).

As the voting day approaches, organizers of this campaign still have one more demonstration scheduled for September 29 in Montreal and invite everyone to be part of this event, where people again will demand political representatives take action.

As revolutionary socialists, we understand the importance of a just transition to a sustainable economy based on green jobs and decent work for all. Only the people can make this happen and we’ll make it happen as we dismantle capitalism.