MONTREAL - Changes to social welfare proposed by Employment Minister Agnès Maltais are continuing to stir discontent.
The Front commun des personnes assistées sociales du Québec is organizing a day of demonstrations Thursday in five cities to protest the Quebec reform. Gatherings will be held in Montreal, Quebec, Sherbrooke, Saguenay and Rimouski.
Meanwhile, a petition sponsored Québec solidaire spokesperson and MNA for Gouin Françoise David continues to collect signatures. A little more than 10,300 people have signed their names up to now.
Activist and failed Québec solidaire candidate Manon Massé, who has run in all provincial elections in for the riding of Sainte-Marie-Saint-Jacques since 2006, was set to meet constituents Sunday to invite them to sign the petition.
In a telephone interview, she denounced cuts from the reform advocated by the Marois government.
Changes to the social welfare system would include cutting the current additional benefits to those 55 to 58 years old, to parents with a child under five, and to people who use detox services for more 90 days. The current system covers those seeking help for susbtance abuse for a maximum period of 183 days.
Those additional $129 payments would be reinstated, however, for those who manage to prove that they are genuinely unable to find a job. That money will be added to the basic monthly benefit of $604.
