Photo: Martin C. Barry
Quebec Premier Jean Charest is presented with a special commemorative mezuzah by
Adam Atlas, president of the Quebec Jewish Congress

Premier Jean Charest has told leading members of Montreal’s Jewish community they are an important component of Quebec society, while inviting them to participate in a major economic push Charest has planned for the years ahead.
Addressing a gathering of several hundred at an event sponsored by Federation CJA and the Quebec Jewish Congress on Aug. 27 at the Gelber Conference Centre in Montreal, Charest recounted some of the history of the Jews in the Sherbrooke region, where he was raised and which he represents as an MNA, before praising the Jewish community for its many contributions to the province.

Year of change
“I want to thank you for everything you’re done for Quebec and I want to say tonight — and I speak tonight as Premier of Quebec on behalf of all Quebecers — it’s only for one reason that I wanted to be here,” he said. “It was to say thank you. It has been an extraordinary journey and one that will continue for many, many years to come.” Charest went on to say he wanted to “speak about the future, especially in this very intense period of change that we are experiencing. I think we all understand and appreciate that the year 2009 will go down in history as an extraordinary year of change.
“We’ve experienced this economic upturn, the most important change, financial and economic crisis that we’ve had since the depression of the 1930s. We’re also facing an environmental challenge — a crisis — one that will culminate with a very important conference that will bring together heads of governments in Copenhagen in December, as we make very important choices in regards to the challenge of climate change and how we as people who have inherited this earth choose to govern ourselves so that we can it pass it on to our children.

New priorities
“We need to revisit our priorities as we look ahead and the economy will be a big part of our (the Liberal) agenda. One of the things that we need to is to address this issue of how we balance our books, for example. In Quebec as in the rest of Canada, we have been balancing our books for the last 10 years. Quebecers like other Canadians believe that this is what we must do if we are going to govern ourselves, keeping in mind the needs of future generations.
“As we do this, though, and as we face this economic change, we’ve all been in a situation where we’ve had to incur deficits, and that’s the case in Quebec,” added Charest. “And we have done it for a reason that I want to reiterate tonight that’s very important. It may seem obvious, but it needs to be said. We have done so because our values are such that we want to protect the most vulnerable of our citizens, who need health care and education and social services. Those who are older in our society and are the most vulnerable.

Economic plan
“Our choices, the ones that Raymond Bachand makes as Minister of Finance, are based on our common values. Charest repeated a message he’s been delivering to audiences since earlier this year, about a wide-ranging plan his government is developing, which involves closer economic links with European countries and the province of Ontario, as well as opening up Quebec’s far north. “We’ve asked our European partners to create with us both in Canada and Quebec a model of what globalization will be for the future of our citizens,” he said. “And what we are looking for and striving for is much than an agreement on free trade.”