MONTREAL — The first of two French-language leaders debates during the Quebec election campaign takes place in Montreal Thursday night, and it will be the first contest as party leader for four of the five participants.
Polls have shown the Coalition Avenir Québec with a sizable lead over its four main opponents ahead of the so-called “face-to-face” debate on TVA network, which will pit one leader directly against another.
CAQ Leader François Legault, the incumbent premier and the only participant who has debated before as a provincial party leader, told reporters this week he recognizes he’ll be the target.
“I expect the four leaders to attack me; it’s a bit normal, when you look at the polls,” Legault said Tuesday. “So we try to predict these attacks, predict responses.”
In the 2018 election, there were only four parties involved in the face-to-face debate; the Conservative Party of Quebec did not hold any seats at the time and wasn’t invited. Thursday’s debate will feature Legault, Liberal Leader Dominique Anglade, Québec solidaire spokesman Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois, Parti Québécois Leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon and Conservative Leader Éric Duhaime.
“It will be the first time we will be five and it’s an additional challenge because it gives less time to each leader to assert themselves,” Duhaime said Wednesday, adding that he’s very confident going in.
Nadeau-Dubois, whom Legault has singled out several times during partisan speeches in recent days, said he’ll take the exercise seriously but also wants to have fun. “It’s well known that the debates are an important moment for any political campaign,” Nadeau-Dubois said.
Speaking this week in Rouyn-Noranda, Que., 630 kilometres northwest of Montreal, Nadeau-Dubois said the debate will also be important for voters. Many have come to him on the campaign trail unsure of who to vote for, he said, adding that Thursday’s contest will be a chance to crystallize that choice.
“I want to have a debate with my colleagues from the other political parties because we have tough questions to answer for the future of Quebec,” Nadeau-Dubois said.
Anglade, whose party is struggling in its Montreal-area strongholds, according to polls, told reporters this week the debate will allow Quebecers a chance to discover the leaders.
“It is an opportunity to show the real differences in the type of Quebec we want,” she told Montreal’s CJAD 800 radio station on Wednesday.
She said it’s a chance to let people know about her values and what she cares about. “It’s exciting because it gets to the fundamentals of why you are in politics,” she said.
Legault said he’ll take time to rest up ahead of Thursday night, where he will be on the defensive for the first time as the incumbent premier.
“There is a certain stress, I will not hide it from you, attached to that,” Legault said.
A second French debate, on Radio-Canada, will take place on Sept. 22.
Unlike in 2018, there will be no English-language debate this election campaign.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 15, 2022.
OTTAWA – Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says the NDP is caving to political pressure from Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre when it comes to their stance on the consumer carbon price.
Trudeau says he believes Jagmeet Singh and the NDP care about the environment, but it’s “increasingly obvious” that they have “no idea” what to do about climate change.
On Thursday, Singh said the NDP is working on a plan that wouldn’t put the burden of fighting climate change on the backs of workers, but wouldn’t say if that plan would include a consumer carbon price.
Singh’s noncommittal position comes as the NDP tries to frame itself as a credible alternative to the Conservatives in the next federal election.
Poilievre responded to that by releasing a video, pointing out that the NDP has voted time and again in favour of the Liberals’ carbon price.
British Columbia Premier David Eby also changed his tune on Thursday, promising that a re-elected NDP government would scrap the long-standing carbon tax and shift the burden to “big polluters,” if the federal government dropped its requirements.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
Simon Jolin-Barrette, minister responsible for consumer protection, has tabled a bill to force merchants to calculate tips based on the price before tax.
That means on a restaurant bill of $100, suggested tips would be calculated based on $100, not on $114.98 after provincial and federal sales taxes are added.
The bill would also increase the rebate offered to consumers when the price of an item at the cash register is higher than the shelf price, to $15 from $10.
And it would force grocery stores offering a discounted price for several items to clearly list the unit price as well.
Businesses would also have to indicate whether taxes will be added to the price of food products.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 12, 2024.
Quebec legislature member Youri Chassin has announced he’s leaving the Coalition Avenir Québec government to sit as an Independent.
He announced the decision shortly after writing an open letter criticizing Premier François Legault’s government for abandoning its principles of smaller government.
In the letter published in Le Journal de Montréal and Le Journal de Québec, Chassin accused the party of falling back on what he called the old formula of throwing money at problems instead of looking to do things differently.
Chassin says public services are more fragile than ever, despite rising spending that pushed the province to a record $11-billion deficit projected in the last budget.
He is the second CAQ member to leave the party in a little more than one week, after economy and energy minister Pierre Fitzgibbon announced Sept. 4 he would leave because he lost motivation to do his job.
Chassin says he has no intention of joining another party and will instead sit as an Independent until the end of his term.
He has represented the Saint-Jérôme riding since the CAQ rose to power in 2018, but has not served in cabinet.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 12, 2024.
