Legault in it to win, rejects any coalition
L’ASSOMPTION — François Legault is convinced his Coalition avenir québec, which has been gaining in the polls, can pull ahead in time to win on Sept. 4. And he sees Liberal Leader Jean Charest’s contention that a vote for the Coalition is a vote for the Parti Québécois as a sign Charest is panicking.
Legault said Charest thought by calling an election in summer, Quebecers would forget that the Charbonneau Commission into construction corruption would resume hearings in September. “Quebecers were not fooled.”
He said Parti Québécois leader Pauline Marois, who has established a transition committee to prepare for taking power, is “putting the cart before the horse.”
Legault rejected the idea of a coalition with the Liberals, saying they “have dirty hands” or the PQ.
“In the Parti Québécois, there is one priority; the referendum and what’s more, their hands are tied with the unions,” he said. “All the changes we want to make to remove the bureaucracy would not be possible with the Parti Québécois.”
Legault recognizes his agenda, with calls for replacing school boards with unelected school service centres, abolition of regional health agencies and elimination of 7,000 public sector jobs, will be disturbing for some.
“We have been turning in circles for 40 years in Quebec,” he said. “Now we have a chance to change. It is certain that the winds will be strong. All the forces of the status quo, that includes pressure groups like the unions, the school boards, will do everything they can to protect what they have. The winds will blow but I think these are changes that are necessary so that we can offer our citizens quality services.”
Legault said a new CROP poll, showing gains for his Coalition Avenir Québec and rating him ahead of his rivals as the best choice for premier, means voters like the CAQ message of change.
The PQ led with 34 per cent — enough to form a majority, according to CROP, and well ahead of the Quebec Liberals at 27 per cent. While Liberal support fell by two percentage points, the CAQ gained four percentage points, rising to 25 per cent.
The poll also showed an increase in undecided voters, from 11 per cent in the CROP poll Aug. 4-8 to 19 per cent in the Aug. 12-14 sounding. Legault said the leaders’ debates, which start on Sunday, will be “a key point” in the campaign.
The CAQ leader insists he has moved on, and will not campaign for sovereignty, but Charest says Legault, a former PQ minister, remains a sovereignist.
Asked whether he now is a federalist, Legault said: “No. I am a nationalist.”
His plan is to stay in politics for 10 years, focused on a limited agenda of cleaning up corruption and reducing the weight of bureaucracy, while improving education and health care, with the goal of raising the income of Quebecers to the Canadian average.