Party’s financial framework would impose a legal cap on government spending, indexed to inflation and population.
Éric Duhaime expects he has the most to gain in the two televised debates, coming up on TVA and Radio-Canada in the next seven days.
“I’m probably the least well-known leader of a party, and the party is also the least known, so those two huge opportunities could have an impact,” said the leader of the Conservative Party of Quebec.
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Duhaime said he’s feeling confident and heading into the debates with a lot of momentum.
“If I told anyone a year ago that I would be at a leaders debate, they would have laughed,” he told reporters Wednesday. “Now we’re the ones who are laughing.”
Duhaime took most of the day on Wednesday to prepare for the debate, engaging in practice sessions with his advisors. He will continue the prep all day Thursday.
The first debate, hosted by TVA, is Thursday night at 8 p.m., and another debate between the five main party leaders will be on Radio-Canada on Sept. 22. Duhaime said the incumbent premier has the most to lose in the debates, but he will be difficult to trip up.
“François Legault has experience. He’s the only one that already has several debates under his belt. This is also the first time we have a debate with five people; it will not leave a lot of time for the leaders to be heard. It will also be difficult for viewers.”
Duhaime said he regrets that there are only two televised debates, and that none will be held in English, as CAQ leader François Legault declined an invitation from English television networks.
“Unfortunately, we’re not going to have an (English) debate,” he said. “Mr. Legault has decided he doesn’t want to talk to you guys.”
Duhaime held just one campaign event, at the hotel where he’s staying in Laval, to unveil the party’s financial framework.
The Conservative Party of Quebec would end corporate handouts, and slow down the rate of Quebec’s spending, bringing about a balanced budget within four years.
“We’ve put figures on every promise we’ve made,” Duhaime said. “We’ve made very few promises compared to other parties. For us, the big amount we are proposing to citizens is a tax cut. We’re not trying to hand out candies here and there to everybody. We want to make sure Quebecers are not the most taxed citizens in North America.”
The party presented its financial framework Wednesday, which outlines the costs of its election promises if it forms the government on Oct. 3.
It proposes $30 billion worth of income tax cuts over five years.
“You have to understand this is a historic tax cut that the province has never seen,” said party co-founder and former leader Adrien Pouliot.
The party would reduce the marginal tax rate on the first $46,295 of income to 13 per cent from 15 per cent, saving roughly $924 for those making $46,295 a year. The next bracket, up to $92,580, would drop to 18 per cent from 20 per cent, saving $1,851 for those making $92,580 or more.
The party is also proposing to cut the provincial gas tax, which costs 19.2 cents per litre and brought in $1.9 billion in revenue last year, and eliminate the provincial sales tax for the sale of used goods, a cost of more than $300 million annually.
Pouliot said the party won’t cut spending, but limit its increase to roughly 16 per cent, whereas estimates from the ministry of finance predict it will rise by 25 per cent. Among the ways to save is to no longer hand out subsidies to giant corporations, which the party said cost the province $3.6 billion in 2022.
Pouliot said corporate welfare is unfair to small entrepreneurs. While the government will make a big show of the opening of the Moderna vaccine plant, for example, which is receiving roughly $25 million in government help to establish in Laval, there are people struggling to keep their businesses afloat.
“What you don’t see is the local entrepreneur who can’t expand his factory, because he can’t afford it,” Pouliot said. “It’s a poor allocation of resources.”
The party will also introduce a law to cap government spending, indexing the cap based on inflation and a population growth rate of 1.5 per cent. The spending law would also call on the province to balance its books within five years if it happens to run a deficit in the event of a disaster, such as a pandemic or a financial collapse, as occurred in 2008.
The framework also takes into consideration a better delivery of health services, with the addition of more private companies in the healthcare network. Those who opt to take out private insurance, which will be permitted under a Conservative government, will also save the province money down the line.
Overall, the plan would cost $1.7 billion, while saving roughly $6 billion by the end of the next mandate. The plan calls for spending to increase by $711 billion over five years, while revenue would rise by $745 billion.
The Conservative plan also calls for payments to continue to be made the the Generations Fund, which helps pay down the province’s debt. Estimates predict the debt-to-GDP ratio will fall to 34.3 per cent from 42.1 per cent.
In other campaign news, Duhaime found himself in hot water after reports surfaced that Elections Quebec is investigating a rally being held in Quebec City on Friday, for which select tickets were being sold at $500. The maximum permitted political donation is $200 per person. The party said it cancelled the ticket offering on Wednesday in light of the reports.
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