Quebec Premier François Legault says he is willing to “take important steps” to curb children’s use of social media, amid pressure from younger members of his party.
Some 700 members of the Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ) gathered in Saint-Hyacinthe, Quebec, on Saturday and Sunday for a general convention, and among the proposals they are debating is a call by the party’s youth wing to ban access to social networks. for children under 16 years of age.
Speaking to reporters on Saturday, Legault described social media platforms as “virtual boosters” and compared them to addictive substances.
But the prime minister’s comments appear to indicate a change of course.
He sounded dismissive earlier this month when Parti Québécois leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon suggested following the lead of the French and Florida governments, which have banned young people under 14 from opening social media accounts.
And on Thursday, Legault’s government refused to debate a PQ motion specifically dealing with the issue.
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“It scares me,” Legault said of social media on Saturday. “It is creating significant mental health problems for young people. The way social media works is to make readers dependent. … I am open to taking important steps.”
Elsewhere at the convention, members of several unions held a demonstration outside the location where party members were meeting to denounce the government’s handling of labor talks with the province’s workers.
Among them were members of the Fédération interprofessionnelle de la santé du Québec, commonly known as FIQ, which represents 80,000 nurses, nursing assistants, respiratory therapists and clinical perfusionists.
FIQ members have been on strike since November amid stalled efforts to negotiate a new collective agreement and rejected the government’s last contract offer in April. Protesters on Saturday called on Legault’s government to return to the negotiating table and present a proposal that would improve working conditions and increase wages.
The rejected deal, which had been backed by union leaders, included across-the-board wage increases of at least 17.4 percent over five years; new bonuses for evening, night and weekend work; greater flexibility for workers to control their own schedules; and changes in the accumulation of vacation days and the recognition of seniority, among dozens of other measures.
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