Hello! I wanted to look back on our incredible independent and socialist campaign in Verdun, and also wanted to point forward! First, so many of you helped the campaign in so many ways. In the end, we covered about 70 street corners by distributing leaflets or door-to-door visites thanks to about 20 volunteers! We had donations from more than 25 different people, amounts between $10 and $200, and this for a total of more than $3000!
Thank you!!! Thank you also for voting : over 1000 votes in the Desmarchais-Crawford district, that’s quite a few people… That’s a lot of people who don’t think it’s normal that we have a housing crisis and that too many people can’t afford to live in Verdun anymore, while there are empty condos and luxury apartments, entire 6-plexes kept uninhabited by their owners…
1000 votes is quite a few people who don’t want the abusive rent increases and fraudulent renovations and manipulative passes of the gentrifiers. 1000 people ready to unite against all that, like the Godin Street tenants! 1000 votes, that’s also a lot of people who are happy to see that finally, the media is talking about the housing crisis and our ideas such as real rent control, penalizing landlords who keep premises vacant, and even that housing should be a public service. 1000 votes, that’s going to be a lot of people on Tuesday night, December 7th at the next borough council meeting, right? I’m already looking forward to seeing you there!
In fact there is a growing recognition that the rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer — and that we need to stop it! That we have to stop the exploitation and oppression caused by the world of finance, speculation, the capitalist system!
That’s why we put forward a socialist candidacy. Because it’s not just by voting every four years that we’re going to win. It is by being united and organized that we will win! We need a broad, democratic, grassroots movement for workers, students, seniors, immigrants, the LGBTQ community… not for the rich, not for those already very if not too comfortable!
Remember that our strength is in our numbers, so we need to see a lot of you at the next Borough Council meeting on December 7! We’ve got a month to get ready for it! If I promised you one thing in my campaign, it was that no matter what happened in the election, the movement would continue. It’s continuing!
Until then, solidarity!
Rosalie Bélanger-Rioux 