Montreal Gazette

Marois steps up attack on Couillard

Ethics commission­er has all the financial informatio­n required, PQ leader says

- RENé BRUEMMER THE GAZETTE rbruemmer@montrealga­zette.com Twitter: renebruemm­er

BLAINVILLE — With the latest poll showing the Liberal Party widening its lead, Parti Québécois Leader Pauline Marois accused her main adversary, Philippe Couillard, of orchestrat­ing a fear campaign and reiterated her theme that support for him was a vote for a return to the Quebec Liberal Party of Jean Charest.

At the same time, she refused Couillard’s demand that she and her husband, millionair­e businessma­n Claude Blanchet, publicly divulge their tax returns and the extent of their personal holdings, saying the provincial ethics commission­er has already been given all the informatio­n he requires.

“Mr. Couillard has tried to do the same diversion since the beginning of the campaign. Why? Because he has nothing to offer Quebecers, except the old Liberal team directed by Mr. Charest,” Marois said. “Because his financial plan is a catastroph­e. He wants to take us back to the years of debt of Mr. Charest, because that is the financial framework he is still working under. So I say stop making diversions and return to the real issues.”

Marois said she would focus on the themes of health care, education, jobs, and social assistance to families to reverse their slide, as well as the PQ’s strong record in economic and administra­tive governance over the 18 months. A Léger-Journal de Montréal poll Tuesday showed the Liberals with 40 per cent of the vote and leading in most regions of the province, compared to 33 per cent for the PQ, 15 per cent for Coalition Avenir Québec and nine per cent for Québec solidaire. Asked whether she felt Couillard was resorting to a campaign of fear, Marois responded: “I think we are victims of a party leader who has nothing new, who falls back on fear to cover that. So yes, I would say he is trying to make Quebecers fearful. … Quebecers have been roughed up or manipulate­d in a sense by Mr. Couillard, who tried to make people believe that we are having an election about a referendum. We are not having an election on a referendum, and I always said we would not push Quebecers. I will not do it.”

The referendum issue leaped to the forefront on March 9 when superstar candidate Pierre Karl Péladeau proclaimed he was joining the PQ to make Quebec a country. Marois has since refused to guarantee she will not hold a referendum if the PQ obtains a majority, even though more than two-thirds of Quebecers don’t want one.

Marois said Tuesday she was aware Péladeau planned to make his pro-sovereignt­y exclamatio­n and approved the decision. She said she did not regret it. Marois said she is satisfied with how her campaign is being run and her party’s plan of attack.

In response to requests she divulge her personal wealth, Marois said she already disclosed her tax returns in 2012 and they are available to the public. She refused to disclose the amount of her assets or that of her husband, because she said the provincial ethics commission­er has already received all the informatio­n he has requested on both of them as mandated by law. Blanchet was once head of the multibilli­on-dollar Fed- eration of Labour (FTQ) Solidarity fund. During the Charbonnea­u Commission inquiry into corruption in the constructi­on industry, it was revealed the FTQ made a $3-million investment in a company owned by Blanchet that has been questioned by critics. As well, a former FTQ president was caught on tape saying he would get the PQ’s help to resist a corruption inquiry because he “has a deal with Blanchet.”

As she did on Monday, Marois made a series of campaign stops in Montreal sub- urban ridings where the PQ lost to the CAQ narrowly or won by a slim margin in 2012.

On Monday, integrity was the theme, with Marois attacking the Liberal’s record under Charest over its $100,000 fundraisin­g goals for cabinet ministers, their “daycare scandal,” police raids on their headquarte­rs and the extra salary paid to Charest secretly for 10 years.

On Tuesday, Marois unveiled their platform regarding aid to families, with frequent asides to the integrity issue. A PQ government would offer 250,000 places in subsidized daycare centres by 2017: “One for every child that needs one.” She promised to complete the network of daycare services in the province, ease access to daycare spots for families, and improve the work-family-school balance by offering incentives to create part-time daycare services, or extending daycare hours outside of regular daytime schedules.

 ?? RYAN REMIORZ/ THE CANADIAN PRESS ?? On Tuesday, with another poll showing the Liberal party’s lead over the PQ growing, PQ Leader Pauline Marois changed the theme to Quebec families on the campaign trail.
RYAN REMIORZ/ THE CANADIAN PRESS On Tuesday, with another poll showing the Liberal party’s lead over the PQ growing, PQ Leader Pauline Marois changed the theme to Quebec families on the campaign trail.

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