MONTREAL—More than 7,000 people took to the streets here April 1 to protest the Quebec government’s imposition of a health tax of $25 this year—which will rise to $200 by 2012—and increases in sales and gasoline taxes and electricity rates. The Coalition Against User Fees and the Privatization of Public Services had organized the march weeks in advance, but the budget presented by the Quebec Liberal government Finance Minister Raymond Bachand two days before helped swell the ranks of the protesters.

—BEVERLY BERNARDO