MONTREAL — Quebec’s official election campaign isn’t expected to start for at least another week, but the province’s governing party has already made billions of dollars in promises.
Families Minister Mathieu Lacombe told reporters Friday that if the Coalition Avenir Québec is re-elected it would spend $1.4 billion over five years to convert more than 56,000 unsubsidized daycare spots into subsidized spaces.
“Within five years, every Quebec toddler will be able to have a subsidized place, at $8.70 (a day), in a quality educational daycare. That also means equity — finally — equity for all Quebec parents,” he said.
The campaign promise was one of several that members of Premier François Legault’s government have made in recent days.
Last Friday, Legault promised $1.8 billion for thousands of new subsidized and affordable housing units. Earlier this week, Health Minister Christian Dubé promised a new agency to manage the province’s health-care system.
The Liberals released their full election platform in June and the Quebec Conservative Party released its platform last week.
Philippe Dubois, a professor of public and political communication at Quebec’s school for public administration — École nationale d’administration publique — said the early start to the campaign is partially a result of Quebec’s fixed election date, which has been the law since 2013.
The law states that Quebec must have an election on the first Monday of October, every four years; there are some exceptions. And the campaign has to be between 33 and 39 days.
All five parties with seats in the legislature have had time to prepare their platforms and want to show the public that they are ready, that they have a strong vision and that they can create momentum around their candidates, Dubois said.
Dubois said he’s not worried that voters will confuse the CAQ’s partisan campaign promises for official government proposals, because he said Legault has made it clear that his government wouldn’t make spending announcements after July 1.
“It was a wise decision on (Legault’s) part and it protects him from being accused of using public money or state resources for partisan purposes,” Dubois said.
But with Legault’s government campaigning on its record — and promising to continue the work it has done over the past four years — Dubois said it’s no accident that ministers like Lacombe and Dubé are making promises related to their portfolios.
“It allows them to show this continuity and to associate the ministerial image with the political image,” he said.
Guy Lachapelle, a political-science professor at Concordia University, said it’s typical to see parties making promises before the start of the official campaign.
“It’s nothing new in Quebec politics,” he said in an interview. But in the middle of summer, he said the only people paying attention are those who follow politics closely. The real campaign, and when voters make decisions, will come after Labour Day, Lachapelle said.
Friday’s promise was praised by a group that represents private, unsubsidized daycares, which said the money will create a more inclusive system. Marie-Claude Collin, the president of the Coalition des garderies privées non subventionnées du Québec, said parents don’t often have the means to pay for quality private daycare.
While private daycares often charge around $40 a day, she said that’s not enough to pay educators and cover other costs.
“Having a subsidized space will not only help the owner of the daycare, it will, above all, help the parent who sends their child to daycare,” she said in an interview, adding that it will also allow private daycares to also offer more specialized services to children with special needs.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 19, 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.
