Community on a budget

What can you look forward to in the next provincial budget? Not much, worries the Centre for Community Organizations (COCo). Based on our current budget and existing gov ernment announcements, COCo thinks average Quebecers are about to get hit, hard.

A February 17 meeting (1–4 p.m. at 3680 Jeanne Mance, room 460) will break down what the upcoming budget could mean to you.

It’s worth your while to pay attention—topics will include healthcare, education and Hydro. “We’re talking all kinds of user fees and tax hikes,” says COCo’s Laila Malik. “The upcoming budget could have a pretty devastating effect on everyday people.”

According to Malik, plainspoken money talk is in order, as typical fiscal parlance can be “alienating, and pretty inaccessible for a lot of folks to understand.”

A wider effort to lobby the Charest government is afoot. COCo will join 100+ community groups at a May 12 protest to oppose new taxes.

Malik hopes the grassroots movement will send a strong message, citing the public backlash that led the province to drop proposed health-care user fees from its last budget. “When people really put their foot down, it has an impact,” she says.

Visit coco-net.org for more info.

—ELISABETH FAURE