BROMONT — Prime Minister François Legault would have done worse than Pauline Marois when it came to managing public finances, interim Liberal leader Marc Tanguy declared to justify a return to budget austerity proposed by the Liberals.
“Francois Legault is the worst prime minister in modern Quebec history,” said Mr. Tanguay spoke angrily to reporters.
Although the deficit currently stands at $11 billion, the PLQ’s interim leader predicts that Quebec’s public finances will still be out of balance come the next general election.
“Imagine, François Legault says it’s fair,” he lamented. I don’t think Pauline Marois would ever say that, and that’s fair enough.
Liberal activists paid tribute to former prime minister Philippe Couillard on Saturday, 10 years after the last majority Liberal government was elected, and adopted a resolution to present a plan to return to a balanced budget in the first year of a possible mandate. .
Seven former leaders or interim leaders of the PLQ marked the 10th anniversary of the majority Liberal government’s 2014 election on Saturday. PLQ paid tribute to Philippe Couillard for the occasion. Pictured: Pierre Arcand, Marc Tanguay, Jean Charest, Philippe Couillard, Daniel Johnson, Dominique Anglade and Jean-Marc Fournier.
Photo by Marc-Andre Gagnon
Hard measures and austerity measures
Failing to know exactly what the state’s public finances will be at the end of François Legault’s second term, André Bratte, co-president of the PLQ recovery committee, expects “drastic measures” to be needed.
“But we will do that while protecting the state’s essential services,” promises the former senator, who thinks that’s exactly what the Liberals have done under the leadership of Philippe Couillard.
“This is what our detractors called austerity, but if you look at what happened in some European countries, spending was cut in many sectors,” Mr. Pratte said.
“Under the Coillard government, spending has not gone down. Costs continued to rise, esp [en] Health, Education, Social Services. But our opponents said: ‘This is austerity, this is the end of the world’,” he continued.
Former senator André Bratte, co-chairman of Quebec’s Liberal Party revival committee, answered questions from reporters on the sidelines of his party’s general assembly in Bromont on Sunday.
Photo by Marc-Andre Gagnon
“These restrictions hurt, there’s no doubt,” Mr. Pratt approves. But when we are in a financial situation, when the state is in a very tight financial situation, we have to take effective measures. [ont] Difficult short-term consequences.”
Mr. Pratte, for liberals, emphasizes the importance of “taking responsibility,” and for him, that means taking responsibility for their past.
Nothing to worry about
“I don’t think Quebecers should worry,” believes Bourassa-Sauvé MP Madwa-Nika Cadet. On the contrary, what we see today with CAQ is more worrying than anything we saw between 2014 and 2018.
Photo by Marc-Andre Gagnon
A caucus of Liberals in the Commons also passed an emergency resolution proposing “to establish an emergency benefit similar to the Canadian Emergency Response Benefit to provide immediate cash flow to farmers without increasing their debt levels.”
Activists recommended a resolution to their policy committee that recommended a tax holiday for second jobs. The proposal to reorganize the income tax calculation for the second task will be clarified and discussed in the next General Assembly.
