From Sept-Îles to Jonquière, the sound of the casseroles (pots and pans) protest is drowning out the political cant of Québec’s political class. Night after night, these pot-beating protesters are bearing witness to a population nervous about official efforts to roll back North America’s most advanced social sector. The sap of revolt from Québec’s ‘maple spring’ marks the first major rupture with the austerity agenda being imposed by Canada’s neoliberal establishment.
It started quietly enough, with student dissent over attempts by Jean Charest’s Liberal Party to increase university fees over the next few years. The government hung tough, assuming the students would quieten down and go back to class. They didn’t, and the carré rouge (the little red square which has come to depict personal bankruptcy thanks to the French phrase carrement dans le rouge – squarely in the red) popped up more and more on shirts and skirts.
