Legault defends his financial aid measures in response to opposition

Prime Minister François Legault clearly doesn’t like being accused by the opposition of not fulfilling his promise to put “more money in the wallets of Quebecers,” as he did this week.

In a press release issued on Sunday morning His Facebook pageSince coming to power in 2018, Mr.

The Prime Minister mentioned reducing school taxes, increasing family allowances, introducing a flat fee for daycare services and sending checks to counter the effects of inflation.

Mr. Legault wanted to make the trip, he explained, to respond to the opposition in the National Assembly, which he accused this week of not doing enough to help Quebecers move forward.

“The opposition is now up, but I’m not waiting to help the world. I’ve been working for five years to put more money back in your wallet, and I intend to continue,” wrote the prime minister, who has become accustomed to issuing a lengthy message on his thoughts over the weekend.

Opposition parties want to set the tone

During a pre-session meeting on Thursday, both Quebec solidaire (QS) and Parti Québécois (PQ) pledged to continue the Legault government on the topic of the inflation crisis once work resumes in the National Assembly.

Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois, head of parliament for QS, criticized the Coalition Avenir Quebec (CAQ) government for not doing enough to help Quebecers in these difficult times because the prime minister is “disconnected” from the reality of the most disadvantaged.

“François Legault doesn’t often meet grocery shoppers at Dollarama, and it shows. He doesn’t know what it’s like to check his AcèsD account before going to the grocery store,” he said in a press scrum.

For his part, PQ leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon bluntly confirmed that among the CAQ’s “broken promises” was “putting more money in the wallets of Quebecers.”

Despite inflation, an 11% increase in food prices, rising gasoline prices, exploding rent and mortgage rates, government checks and tax cuts, Quebec households are poorer under the CAQ regime, he estimated.

Legault answers

However, François Legault defended himself on Sunday from being “cut off” from the reality of the most disadvantaged, recalling that he too grew up in a normal family.

“We weren’t rich at home,” he said. To keep her budget, my mom kept little envelopes for every expense: mortgage, groceries, even an envelope for Sunday collection! I remember how she sacrificed herself for us. »

During the 2018 election campaign, after he won his first mandate as Prime Minister, Mr. Legault said he read comments left by citizens on his Facebook page: “We are with you, we support you, but don’t forget us. »

“The stories people told me inspired me,” he admits.

That’s why he wrote that one of his first directives to his new finance minister, Eric Girard, would be a gesture to help less wealthy seniors.

“We didn’t promise it during the election campaign, but we still paid $200 to hundreds of thousands of seniors who struggled to get by. I remember comments that $200 wasn’t much. But I remember my mother, every dollar counted. When you don’t have a lot of income, $200 counts.”

Mr. In his message, Legault touted measures his government has taken to put “more money in the wallets of Quebecers,” including payments to help buy school supplies and two hours of free access. Stopping hospitals and long-term care centers, not forgetting the checks for $500 and the second phase, $400 to $600, sent out in recent months in response to inflation.

“I could list for a long time all the steps we’ve taken as a government so you have more money. No government in Canada has handed over that much money,” he boasted, firing a final arrow in the opposition’s direction.

“I decided to write all this to you because of the attacks of Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois and Paul Saint-Pierre-Plamonton. They have now discovered that many Quebecers need more money and help. While I have been working to help the world with determination for five years, the leader of the PQ has torn his shirt against tax cuts. . Mr. Nadeau-Dubois likes to dig his orange lines into your pockets. You have to have a front…”

With information by Thomas Laberge and Patrice Bergeron