Quebec Federation of Labour Backs PQ

In an interesting move, the Quebec Federation of Labour has voted, almost unanimously, to back the PQ in the 2007 election.

Although organized labour has shared a closer relationship to the PQ than any other party, the move is interesting given Boisclair's recent comments on unions.

The FTQ’s 2004 convention, in a policy paper entitled “Présents sur tous les Fronts”, reaffirmed its commitment to operating with complete political independence in the realm of electoral politics. After amending its constitution to sever its official ties to the NDP in 1971, the FTQ has chosen to endorse parties in elections on a case-by-case basis. Since 1988, the FTQ has required a special convention resolution in order to endorse a political party in a provincial election campaign. In the 2003 Quebec provincial election, for example, the FTQ chose not to endorse a party and instead ran a third party campaign against the upstart ADQ. The FTQ, along with all labour centrals in Quebec, has been loathe to identify or associate too closely with a party for fear of jeopardizing its independence in political affairs.

The FTQ has endorsed the PQ in the following elections: 1976, 1981, 1989, 1994, 1999, 2007.