Simon Tremblay-Pepin

Federal budget 2013: Stubbornness and hidden secrets

| April 10, 2013

Reactions to the federal budget presented in March differed in Québec in comparison with the rest of the provinces. In this text we will first review the budget as whole before zooming into measures which caused a big uproar in Québec.

In its latest budget, the government brought to the fore an already existing manpower training measure and simply altered the way money is distributed. The apparent simplicity of this year's budget, however, masks the failures of the government's economic strategy in the past few years and raises doubts concerning new initiatives, particularly with respect to labour-sponsored funds and to investment in infrastructure.

Austerity: Major fail

Fiscal debate in Quebec: Myth busting and flak

Simon Tremblay-Pepin

| April 4, 2013

Some myths are just so hard to debunk. For instance, people in Québec generally assume that they are the most taxed in North America. IRIS tackled the well-rehearsed allegation in a recently published socio-economic notice. The reply resounded of what Edward S. Herman and Noam Chomsky have presented in Manufacturing Consent as flak. Here's a short demonstration of how strongly myths are defended in Québec nowadays.

Myth busting

Tuition hike and the media between 2005 and 2010 in Quebec

Simon Tremblay-Pepin

| February 18, 2013

I've contended for the last two years that between 2005 and 2010, an intensive public relations campaign was undertaken with the aim of increasing tuition fees in Quebec. I believe it was crucial when the proposal to hike fees was formally submitted in Raymond Bachand's first budget, the Liberal government's last Minister of Finance and contender in the party's current leadership race. Until recently, this impression was tied up to a very personal reading of the media. However, I came up with the strange idea of empirically testing this hypothesis whilst I was preparing to participate in a conference at the sociology department of the Université du Quebec à Montréal (UQAM). I thus spent a few days producing the following…

Methodology

International trade agreements and corruption in Quebec

Bertrand Schepper Simon Tremblay-Pepin

| November 26, 2012

Negotiations concerning the Canada-European Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) are well underway. Many major issues for Québec's future are being discussed, notably the conditions under which European businesses will be allowed to tender for supplier, service, and construction contracts from the Québec state.

According to a meeting held on this past October 5 between the government and social stakeholders, if these agreements are confirmed, they will allow European businesses to tender for government service requests and supply call-forwards in all contracts above $315,000. Furthermore, European businesses will be allowed to tender for government infrastructure contracts greater or equal to $8.15 million.

Quebec election: Where do we stand after September 4?

Simon Tremblay-Pepin

| September 12, 2012

On September 4, the people of Québec elected a new National Assembly. They demonstrated a surprising level of interest in the 35-day campaign, full of twists and turns, despite it being held in the summertime. This blog post will draw a quick picture of the current state of Québec politics and point towards what's in store in terms of legislative agenda with Pauline Marois's new PQ government.

The New National Assembly

2012 Québec budget: Timidity and omissions

Simon Tremblay-Pepin

| March 26, 2012

On March 20, Québec's Finance Minister, Raymond Bachand, tabled his third budget. This budget year follows in the wake of those of the last few years. The government is still insisting on transforming public service funding in accordance with the user-fee revolution logic (so dear to Mr. Bachand's heart), developing the Plan Nord, and reforming the pension plan.

Limited royalties

Understanding Quebec's Orange Wave part three: What does the Orange Wave mean?

Simon Tremblay-Pepin

| August 2, 2011

In my previous two posts I discussed how neither a rise in left-wing sentiment nor a surge in support for the federalist option caused the "orange wave" in Quebec during the last federal election.

I will now offer my analysis of what happened during the federal election with regard to the outcome of the vote and, more specifically, suggest a number of issues on which progressives from Quebec and Canada can collaborate in the context of a Conservative majority government.

May 2nd election in Quebec

So, if it was not for the sake of Canada or Tommy Douglas, why did Quebecers vote for Jack Layton?

Understanding Quebec's Orange Wave part two: Welcome back to Canada?

Simon Tremblay-Pepin

| July 28, 2011

In my previous post, I addressed how Québec was not reinventing itself as a socialist haven. I will now attempt to show that the NDP's impressive showing in Quebec does not indicate a rejection of sovereignty.

What does Quebec want?

If the NDP's Quebec surge corresponded with a loss of steam in sovereigntist support, we might expect to see dwindling numbers of Quebecers willing to vote in favor of Quebec's separation from Canada. But is that the case?

Chart 1: In favour of sovereignty from November 2008 to May 2011

Understanding Quebec's Orange Wave: A socialist haven?

Simon Tremblay-Pepin

| July 27, 2011

From an outsider's point of view, the last federal election may give the impression that a majority of Quebecois(es) has converted to social democracy and asymmetrical federalism. This analysis aims to demonstrate the shortcomings of such an interpretation, without diminishing any hopes about the potential collaboration between progressives in Quebec and the rest of Canada.

In this post (the first of in a series of three posts) I will try to demonstrate that there is no correlation between the NDP wave in Quebec and a rise of support for left-wing ideas. The next post will be about Quebec, the NDP and the sovereignty. And my last post will offer a counter-analysis of why Quebecois(es) voted for the NDP and how we, as progressives, can still work together on many issues.

Simon Tremblay-Pepin

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