AND SO IT BEGINS ...
Legault reiterates vow to raise legal age for marijuana, no votes on sovereignty
Manon Massé of Québec solidaire, the PQ’s Jean-François Lisée, the Liberals’ Philippe Couillard and François Legault of the CAQ hit the trail Thursday as the 39-day Quebec election campaign got underway. See what the four parties had to say.
QUEBEC Flanked by supporters and candidates, Coalition Avenir Québec Leader François Legault chose to start his campaign where he says the “wave of change” started last fall.
Legault opened the 39-day campaign in Quebec City’s Louis-Hébert riding, which was taken over by the CAQ from the Quebec Liberal Party in an upset byelection win.
At the time, Legault said the win was a “scathing message” from voters to Premier Philippe Couillard and a sign the CAQ could take “just about all the ridings in Quebec.”
His first remarks of the new campaign carried the same message Thursday.
“We finally have the opportunity of turning the page on 13 years of Liberal government, and that starts now,” Legault said from a waterfront park in the riding. “What is at stake in this election is which party can replace Mr. Couillard’s government.”
Legault described the CAQ as a team that shares Quebecers’ concerns about “education, the economy and health care.”
He reiterated his promise that a CAQ government would never hold a referendum on sovereignty and again urged anglophones to “stop being taken for granted” by the Liberal party.
Legault entered the first day of campaigning with reports swirling that Gertrude Bourdon, president of the CHU de Québec-Université Laval, will be running with the Liberals after being courted by the CAQ.
Asked about Bourdon, Legault deflected some questions and hinted at the reason behind the fallout between her and the CAQ: the agreement signed in February between the Quebec government and medical specialists.
Legault has said the agreement, which set the medical specialists’ working conditions and pay, will be revisited under a CAQ -led government.
On Thursday, he told reporters he would like to know why Bourdon finds it acceptable that there are nurses and doctors here earning less than their counterparts in Ontario while specialists in the same hospitals earn more.
He said he had three private meetings with Bourdon and could tell by the second meeting they were disagreeing on the issue.
“I cannot accept it,” Legault said of the difference in salaries. “It’s not fair.”
Seeing how Bourdon chose the Liberal party after meetings with the CAQ and that his party has several former PQ members among its field of candidates, Legault was asked what he feels sets it apart this election.
“What’s new is seeing former PQ members and Liberals working together,” Legault said. “And that the priority won’t be whether we’re for or against Quebec sovereignty. That’s what’s new. Working together. Putting aside old debates. That’s the CAQ.”
In his first day on the campaign, Legault reiterated what he has said before about cannabis: he believes the legal age in Quebec should be 21 instead of 18 and a CAQ government would take measures to make it so.
Canada is set to fully legalize cannabis as of Oct. 17. Legault said the CAQ would “make adjustments once we’re able to.”
“There are some things we can’t do, some we can do,” Legault said. “But putting the legal age to 21, to me, is important for the message it sends.”
CAQ candidates supported the idea throughout the day, including Ian Lafrenière, the former Montreal police spokesperson-turned-candidate in the Vachon riding.
“This wasn’t our choice to make it legal,” Lafrenière said outside a campaign stop at the Ti-Oui Snack Bar in St-Raymond. “As an ex-police officer and as a father of two young daughters, it’s not my choice, either.”
But raising the legal age to 21 would be a good start, Lafrenière said. “At the very least to send a message that it isn’t nothing to smoke marijuana,” he said.
Legault ended his day by shaking hands, serving poutines and taking hotdog orders at the popular fast-food restaurant. He left for Montreal Thursday evening and said he plans to make an important health-sector announcement Friday morning.
What is at stake in this election is which party can replace Mr. Couillard’s government.