Behind the Marché Maisonneuve in Montreal's Hochelaga riding is a green park. Sounds of Cuban music are coming from a large tent - today is Montreal-Cuba friendship day. On the other side of the grass, a small crowd of people are having a picnic. It is the local committee of Québec Solidaire.
Marianne Breton Fontaine is smiling as she talks to people milling around. She's just collected fifteen signatures, another step closer to nomination as a candidate for the Communist Party.
"I am impressed by the openness of all the people I speak to," she says. "This is a working class neighbourhood. People are angry about the ruling class and think we have good ideas."
Marianne is one of several youth and student candidates the Communist Party has nominated across the country for the Oct. 14 election. "The candidates will raise issues that won't be discussed in this campaign otherwise," Johan Boyden tells People's Voice. Boyden is the leader of the Young Communist League and running in Toronto Centre.
"With the threat of a Tory majority, it is vital for all opposition to become stronger - not weaker," he adds. "Now is the time for clear, audacious policy alternatives, for bold ideas, fighting candidates, and parties with a progressive and unambiguous vision - that's what we'll be putting forward."
That vision, he says, includes "zero tuition fees," grants not loans; massively increase funding to post secondary education; free books, eliminate ancillary fees; ban military recruitment and research from campus; restore and expand funding to arts and science for peaceful purposes; reverse privatization, curb corporate power on campus; enact and enforce equity in university hiring; raise minimum wage to $15/hour; universal, accessible child care; and expanding Aboriginal student funding, and d Aboriginal run education initiatives.
Communist youth and student candidates are running in six ridings.
Calgary East: Jason Devine, a 28-year-old who was born and raised in Calgary, is married and has four children. He is a full-time student at the University of Calgary, in his fourth year of studying history. He is a leading member of Anti Racist Action Calgary and is also active in anti war and social justice movements. Earlier this year, while his spouse Bonnie was running in the Alberta provincial election, Neo nazis in Calgary attempted to fire bomb their house.
Guelph: Drew Garvie is a graduate of the U of Guelph, a service sector worker, and Young Communist League organizer. Drew supports the CFS Drop Fees Campaign, and calls for eliminating tuition, massively increasing funding, and stopping military recruitment and privatization on campus. He actively protests Canada's war inAfghanistan, and supports the Six Nations reclamation in Caledonia. "People and nature before profits!" he says.
Toronto Centre: Johan Boyden campaigns for peace and against campus military recruitment. He is for raising minimum wages, expanding LGBTQ rights, and freedom for the Toronto 18. "Massive public pressure from youth, tenants, immigrants, unions and all progressive movements can abolish racial profiling, eliminate tuition fees, and win public housing," he says.
Hamilton Centre: Ryan Sparrow works in customer service in downtown Hamilton, part of the new low pay industry replacing manufacturing jobs. He was inspired into political action by a May Day "No Concessions" rally organized by Steelworkers Local 1005, against bankruptcy protection fraud by Stelco management. Ryan spares no efforts fighting the corporate nation wrecker from destroying Canadian manufacturing and running away with billions.
Laurier Sainte Marie: Samie Pagé Quirion is a student in sociology in focusing on feminist studies at the University of Quebec at Montreal. She participated in a journey to Cuba of international cooperation with the agency ARO International in 2006, and traveled to several regions in Latin America, primarily in Mexico. She has also traveled in Europe and Western Canada. She has worked in Amnesty International and participated in events organized by la Table de concertation et solidarité Québec Cuba. She is a member of the Young Communist League.
Hochelaga: Marianne Breton Fontaine is a photography student at Cégep du Vieux Montreal, working for her Student Union as a Secretary. Her main activity is within the Young Communist League of Quebec, where she has been an organizer for the past two years. She is also active in the peace movement with Echec a la Guerre, in the Québec-Cuba Caravan of Friendship, and in Québec Solidaire, where she holds the post of delegate for the Hochelaga Maisonneuve Committee for Women.
Together with the Young Communist League, the candidates will be pushing to get their voices heard and to expand democracy in the election campaign, using Facebook, YouTube, blogs, and focused outreach to high schools and university campuses.