This Thursday, March 24, 2022 at 4pm, Quebec Green Party leader Alex Tyrrell demonstrated for the closure of General Dynamics, a plant located in Valleyfield, in the south of Montréal.
Alex Tyrrell is an eco-socialist activist who was elected leader of the Green Party of Quebec in 2013 at the age of 25. He is running, this year, for the by-election in the riding of Marie-Victorin, in Longueuil. South of Montreal is the General Dynamics plant which manufactures bombs, explosives and rockets. Alex Tyrrell has always been a peace activist and has repeatedly indicated that avoiding a war with Russia would be his top priority. His anti-war stance had recently been the subject of a wave of virulent criticism. Today he once again spoke out against violence and for peace.
“While war continues in Ukraine, Yemen and elsewhere, we must speak out for peace in the world. This is not a dream or a fantasy. In 2022, achieving world peace should be a goal shared by all countries and all people. We should not accept the diplomatic failures that led to this war. We should not accept that our governments advocate war while arming civilians halfway around the world. We should not accept that Quebec is being used as a hub for the production of war materials. We should not profit from death and destruction. We should not accept the presence of arms manufacturers on our territory and I am here to demand the immediate closure of this plant.”
“The military-industrial complex is a danger to society. It makes us fight unnecessary and avoidable wars. It causes death, destruction and environmental collapse around the world. It wastes our industrial capacity on bombs while we struggle to find people to work in the energy transition sector. Every morning, thousands of Quebec workers get up and go to work to make bombs that will be used to kill people rather than contribute positively to society and humanity. We do not need these factories. We don’t need to produce bombs. We have more important and useful things to build. We don’t need to contribute to the endless cycle of war. What we need to do is defend peace. We need to shut down these factories and elect anti-war activists to our parliament and our democratic institutions now.”
Alex Tyrrell then called out Canada’s Foreign Minister, Melanie Joly and her colleagues, “Escalating the war with Russia is a major mistake. Your actions to date have contributed to the diplomatic failure that has led to this war. The arms shipments you have sent to the battlefield have intensified hostilities and led to death, the enlistment of innocent civilians and the perpetuation of war. Your latest call to increase military spending in this country is a disgrace to our country.”
The values of environmental protection, multiculturalism, feminism, social justice and peace are integral to the Green Party of Quebec and that is why Alex Tyrrell would be honoured to have the support of Marie-Victorin voters in this by-election.
“A vote for the Green Party of Quebec is a vote to end the war, to invest in the energy transition, and to build a Quebec that matches what we want to be as a people, as a society, and as human beings.”
