I have to pay tribute to the efforts of the few organizers who, without resources or funds, and with very little support from their fellow motorcyclists, have managed to put together 14 slow-down operations in 2009 in Quebec. The last such event, held on September 12, brought several hundred motorcyclists before the Montreal offices of our beloved Premier. Fourteen times in 2009, major media talked about the motorcyclists’ protests against the excessive and unjustified increases in insurance premiums decreed by the government monopoly, the SAAQ.

As part of this process, and after having disturbed ministers and their boss, the Opération Escargot executive were finally invited to work with the SAAQ, by the provincial Minister of Transport as well as the president of the SAAQ, Mr. John Harbour – in what turned out to be an aimless exercise by the powers that be aimed at buying time and evading the issue. A method that, incidentally, proved successful in the past. Our organizers did not take the bait, and denounced Harbour and his henchmen.

Since then, perhaps galvanized by the undisputed success of Opération Escargot, a new motorcycle coalition made up of Promocycle, the CAPM, the FMQ and Opération Escargot was formed, the first time all the main motorcycle action groups in Quebec have united under the same banner. The motorcyclists will not accept the excessive and unjustified insurance premium increases, while the SAAQ is taking refuge behind the law that gave them an unsupervised monopoly. It’s good to see that the coalition is challenging the very legislator who wrote the law and can thus modify it, i.e., the politicians.

What’s more, signs indicate that the politicians currently in power in Quebec are getting fed up with these protests - protests that cannot be forbidden as they are always held without incident, and cannot be ignored, as too many citizens take part. In addition, the population seems to support the motorcyclists and their requests.

DON’T MISS THE NEXT OPERATION!

To mark the start of the new parliamentary session, the coalition will hold a two-day vigil on September 19 and 20, in front of the National Assembly. I hope to see you there.

P.S. A citizen without recourse before his government is nothing more than a serf.