October 10, 2018 — The most recent issue of the jesuit magazine Relations looks at the issue of regional development. Titled A Fragmented Québec, this edition of Relations is an attempt to celebrate in its own way the 30th anniversary of a significant issue of the magazine. Thirty years ago, in fact, our companion Julien Harvey and the team at Relations published a hard-hitting article on regional under-development entitled A Québec Broken in Two. This was the start of a long reflection on the economic and social divisions between the booming urban centres and the outlying regions, moribund, abandoned by the State and subject to the dictates of the market and of neoliberal capitalism.
On September 27, the team at Relations went to the POP Museum in Trois-Rivières to continue reflecting on this vital issue, along with the sociologist Robert Laplante (Institut de recherche en économie contemporaine – The Institute of Research into Contemporary Economics), the agronomist Maxime Laplante (Union paysanne – Farmers’ Union) and the activist and social worker Jean-François Aubin (CEGEP of Trois-Rivières).
Next Wednesday, October 17, the Relations team will head to Rimouski for a second evening of reflection on regional development. Four panelists will undertake to reflect with us on these questions: Jean-Philippe Chabot, professor of literature at the CEGEP of Rimouski; Isabelle Gallant, sociopolitical worker at the Women
