Nearly 100,000 signatures for the petition on free contraception

Photo: Jacques Boissinot Archives The Canadian Press “This is one of the most popular petitions of the last fifteen years,” said Québec solidaire MNA Ruba Ghazal.

The petition calling for free contraception in Quebec has collected more than 95,000 signatures in recent weeks, making it by far the most popular petition tabled in Parliament this year.

Submitted Tuesday by Québec solidaire (QS), it “proposes establishing a program of free access to all methods of contraception available in Quebec, without exception.”

“It’s one of the most popular petitions of the last fifteen years,” QS MP Ruba Ghazal stressed at a press briefing.

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Ms. Ghazal was surrounded by eight young women on this occasion. “There has been a huge craze, a very, very significant mobilization since the election of Donald Trump. The petition had 1,500 [signatures] on November 5,” stressed the co-spokesperson for Québec solidaire.

The initiative was launched by the Fédération du Québec pour le planning des naissances and has gone viral on social media.

QS estimates that it would cost $48 million per year to make all methods of contraception free, including condoms. But it also argues that this would generate even greater savings, in the order of $71 million, by preventing unwanted pregnancies.

Martine Biron wants to do more

On Tuesday, the Minister responsible for the Status of Women, Martine Biron, reiterated her sympathy for such a measure. “This is an issue that concerns me and is important,” she said at the start of question period.

“I would like us to do more because I think that women are indeed paying a lot. »

This is not the first time that Ms. Biron has made this kind of statement, even though such measures were not included in her plan to improve access to abortion presented in mid-November.

On Tuesday, she recalled that a free program was not included because she first had to reach an agreement on this issue with the federal government and with her colleague, the Minister of Health, Christian Dubé.

The most popular petition of the parliamentary session, after the one on contraception, was submitted by the Parti Québécois. It calls for better compensation for CPE workers and has collected 19,409 names.