"My campaign," said Prairie, "presents a working-class voice in this election and builds solidarity with working people--from the 1,250 nickel miners on strike against Falconbridge in Sudbury, Ontario, to the more than 600 meatpacking workers on strike or locked out in the Vancouver area by Superior Poultry and Fletcher's Fine Foods; from the Palestinians fighting for their homeland to the workers and farmers in Cuba defending their socialist revolution."

"An important aspect of my campaign," continued Prairie, "is discussing on picket lines, at plant gates, and in working-class districts how working people can use our organizations--the trade unions--to defend ourselves against the dramatic impact of the slowdown in the capitalist economy, such as layoffs, the energy crisis on the U.S. West Coast, and continuing assaults by the bosses and their governments against our working and living conditions. We will discuss with workers and farmers the need in face of this crisis to organize a revolutionary struggle by millions of working people to replace the current capitalist government in Ottawa with one of their own."

Mercier riding is at the center of a controversy in Quebec around anti-Semitic and anti-immigrant remarks made in mid-December by Parti Quebecois (PQ) figure Yves Michaud, who until recently had been seeking the party's nomination as candidate in the by-election. The "Michaud affair" was cited by Quebec premier Lucien Bouchard as one element in his surprise decision to resign January 11.

Bouchard also stated that his efforts at winning popular support for Quebec sovereignty had failed, claiming Quebecois were indifferent in the face of continuing federal government attacks on their rights.

"The capitalist media has jumped on Bouchard's resignation statement to say that the Quebecois no longer want independence," said Prairie. But polls continue to reveal that overall popular support for independence among Quebecois remains unchanged."

"This sentiment is fueled by the resistance to continuing national oppression of the Quebecois within the Canadian capitalist state," said Prairie. He cited several examples of the national oppression of the Quebecois, including continuing gaps in wages, health care, and education between those who speak French and those who speak English, both inside Quebec and in the rest of Canada.

"Canada's ruling class will never allow Quebec to leave 'the nation' peacefully," he added. "The fight for independence can only be won in a revolutionary struggle in the streets and the factories, not by referendums or negotiations with Canada's rulers, contrary to what the PQ has been promoting."

The Militant Labor Forum in Montreal was attended by 17 people. The next day 28 workers and youth turned out to hear Prairie in Toronto. "It is in the interests of all working people in Canada to support the fight for Quebec independence as the way to forge our unity in a common struggle against the capitalist exploiters, to establish a workers and farmers government, and join the international fight for socialism," he said.

One participant at the Toronto meeting told about the experience of a Militant sales team at York University earlier that day. Several students attending a conference were attracted by a placard at their literature table supporting Quebec independence. A group of Quebecois students stopped and asked to have their picture taken in front of the placard.  
 
 
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