Leaders hope debate enough to gain ground in Quebec
Federal party leaders spent the 55th day of the election campaign focused on cementing voter support in Quebec.
Stephen Harper, Justin Trudeau, Tom Mulcair, Gilles Duceppe and Elizabeth May had spent the previous night crossing swords in a feisty, French-language leaders’ debate. On Friday, they honed in on issues they think resonated with Quebecers.
NDP leader Mulcair told a large crowd of Quebec mayors that if elected to power, he would restore home mail delivery, bolster inspection of vehicles carrying dangerous materials, and defend Canada’s supply management system “in its entirety” in the course of negotiating the Trans-Pacific Partnership.
Quebec egg, poultry and dairy producers depend on supply management for their livelihood. The supply management system controls the price of domestic milk, eggs, cheese and poultry through marketing boards, and limits imports by setting high tariffs.
“Mr. Harper refuses to say he’ll defend the system in its entirety. You heard me asking him the question directly during the debate Thursday night,” Mulcair said.
“An NDP government will defend the system for families who own farms in your regions, I want to assure you of that today.”
According to the latest Léger poll released this week, Mulcair is still leading in Quebec with 38-percent support among decided voters compared with 22 per cent for Justin Trudeau’s Liberals, 20 per cent for Gilles Duceppe’s Bloc Québécois, and 18 per cent for Stephen Harper’s Conservatives.
The Bloc leader also addressed the mayors from Quebec’s Fédération québécoise des municipalités (FQM) on Friday.
Duceppe told them Quebec needs a strong voice in Ottawa to reject pipeline projects.
“Energy East would cut across 600 of our rivers in Quebec,” he said, accusing Mulcair of doublespeak. “In English, he says the project is a win-win-win, whereas in Quebec he implies that it’s perhaps a no. Like I said in the debate, maybe it’s time that Tom speak with Thomas so that Mr. Mulcair can finally be frank with Quebecers,” he added, eliciting laughs from the crowd.
Quebec also needs firm guarantees that tragedies, such as the train derailment that killed 47 people in Lac-Mégantic in 2013, will never happen again, Duceppe said.
Conservative candidate Steven Blaney said his government increased the number of rail safety inspectors by 10 per cent and dangerous goods inspectors by 85 per cent since then, and is currently financing a feasibility study into the construction of bypass tracks that would run around the town of Lac-Mégantic, instead of inside its city core.
Meanwhile, Harper was in Rivière-du-Loup to announce that a re-elected Conservative government would table a bill banning all federal tax hikes.
The move is seen as a way for the Conservatives to separate themselves from their rivals. The NDP has proposed corporate tax hikes, while the Liberals want to increase taxes for wealthy Canadians to finance tax cuts for the middle class.
“Clearly, Stephen Harper won the debate,” Blaney told reporters. “On the ground we feel that people are now more receptive to our message and to our Conservative values. Our values are Quebecers’ values.”
A Privy Council poll released this week showed 93 per cent of Quebecers support the Conservative (and Bloc Québécois) position on banning veils during citizenship ceremonies.
Although the issue of the niqab dominated the French-language debate, on Friday, it was much less at the forefront.
Speaking for the Liberal party at the FQM’s convention, AhuntsicCartierville candidate Mélanie Joly said what Quebecers really need in 2015 are investments in infrastructure and tax cuts: “I think that Quebecers are frustrated with the Harper government that has not been taking into account the interests of Quebecers for the past decade. In that context, they’re looking for a new solution. I think Mr. Trudeau was convincing enough.”
The Liberal leader ended the day in Ontario, where he promised to do more to reunite immigrant families.
Green Party Leader Elizabeth May was not immediately available for comment.