‘At the breaking point,’ thousands of community workers protest in Quebec

Community workers rallied at the National Assembly after two weeks of strikes, calling for higher wages, more funding and improved working conditions.

Thousands of community-sector workers wrapped up two weeks of strike action Thursday with a massive protest in front of the National Assembly.

“This is only the beginning,” said Caroline Chartier, co-spokesperson for the movement Le communautaire à boutte, at a news conference.

“We’ll be back, we’ll get involved in the electoral process, we’ll make ourselves heard.”

Exhausted and overextended, community workers are demanding more funding and better working conditions.

On Monday, they called for the dismissal of Social Solidarity Minister Chantal Rouleau.

“A few months ago, we were 116 groups mobilized; today we’re more than 1,800,” Chartier said.

Inside the walls of the provincial legislature, Québec solidaire parliamentary leader Ruba Ghazal urged the government to help these workers who “hold Quebec up with their bare hands, often on starvation wages.”

“When I arrived, the budget for community organizations was $1.1 billion. It’s now $2.2 billion. That’s a 100 per cent increase,” outgoing Premier François Legault replied.

“So can we at least agree it’s a bit exaggerated to say we’ve done nothing? We doubled the budget for community organizations. But I know there’s still work to do, and we’ll keep going,” he added.

The community sector argues that the way it is funded — through one-off envelopes with conditions attached — creates instability.

In the short term, the government should at least make part of the $250-million discretionary fund, left for the next premier, available to the community sector, suggested QS MNA Etienne Grandmont.

That money should “go to the most urgent needs, to quickly relieve the immense pressures in the sector,” he said.

He added that the next premier will need to meet with the sector quickly “to have an honest discussion about the enormous needs and to find solutions to the lack of funding.”

Sophie Tétrault-Martel, co-spokesperson for the à boutte movement, warned that she will be watching all political parties closely in this election year.

“We will be vigilant to make sure community organizations are included in their financial frameworks and become an essential political issue,” she said.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published in French on April 2, 2026.

Caroline Plante, The Canadian Press