Quebec’s major political parties focused on government spending and public services Tuesday as campaigning entered its seventh day, with party leaders outlining competing visions on bureaucracy, housing affordability, education and infrastructure.
The Coalition Avenir Québec and Quebec Conservative Party both argued the provincial government should be streamlined, though they differed sharply on how far reductions should go.
Conservative Leader Éric Duhaime said Quebecers are frustrated with what he described as an inefficient government and renewed his call for cuts to the public service.
CAQ Leader Christine Fréchette countered that the Conservatives’ proposed reductions would come at the expense of public services.
“We’re talking about billions of dollars of reductions in government expenses without looking at the impact that it would have on Quebecers,” Fréchette said during a campaign stop.
Québec solidaire co-spokesperson Ruba Ghazal focused her campaign message on housing affordability, arguing home ownership is increasingly out of reach for younger Quebecers.
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Ghazal said her party wants to help first-time buyers enter the housing market as prices continue to rise.
“Young people would like to stay here and now it’s impossible,” she said.
Parti Québécois Leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon highlighted education, calling for reforms aimed at improving Quebec’s graduation rate. Among the measures proposed by the party is encouraging private schools to accept more students from lower income families and the public system.
“One example is to have private schools making more space for students who are from more modest families,” St-Pierre Plamondon said.
Liberal Leader Charles Milliard used a campaign stop at a school to promote his party’s plan to invest in repairing aging infrastructure across the province.
“We need to repair Quebec,” Milliard said, pointing to schools and other public buildings he said are in poor condition.
“There’s a lot of infrastructure that is actually in a very poor state throughout (the province),” he added.
The competing announcements came as all five major parties continued efforts to win over voters in what remains a closely divided electorate.
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