COUILLARD DEFENDS his candidate in La Pinière riding who got $1.2-million severance cheque from the job he quit to run for the Liberals.
More women threatened, he says
TROIS-RIVIÈRES — It’s ironic the person offering to help people find jobs after being fired for not respecting the charter is Quebec’s first female premier, Liberal Leader Philippe Couillard said Wednesday, since it’s mainly women the law would affect.
“So the person has to choose between her identity ... and her job,” Philippe Couillard said, calling the Charter of Quebec Values an unprecedented discriminatory measure. “What a terrible thing to do.”
Couillard said although his party agrees with some parts of the charter — neutrality of the state and requiring public servants to show their faces — a ban on overt religious symbols such as hijabs, turbans and kippas is going too far and is clearly discriminatory. What a person wears has no bearing on competence, he said, at a news conference at the Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières.
“I’m not interested in what people have on their heads, I want what’s in their heads,” he said.
Parti Québécois leader Pauline Marois told radio show host Paul Arcand Wednesday that there would be a transition stage in applying the law to allow people to “adapt and accept the regulations.”
“We don’t want anyone to lose their job,” she said. “We’ll help them re-orient their careers.”
Couillard defended his candidate in La Pinière riding, Gaétan Barrette, who has been questioned about the $1.2-million severance cheque he received after he left his job as president of the Fédération des médecins spécialistes du Québec in March to run for the Liberal party.
“All his ties have been cut with the federation,” Couillard said, adding that Barrette paid tax on the handsome sum. “Half is already in the coffers of the government, which is an unexpected windfall.”
In 2012, Barrette ran under the Coalition Avenir Québec banner. CAQ Leader François Legault said Wednesday he would force Barrette, if still on his team, to pay back the money or leave the party.
Flanking Couillard Wednesday, Barrette said the severance package was part of his contract, something that was debated and voted on by the federation’s board of directors, and something his predecessor received.
“There are no gifts there, only something that was part of a contract,” he said. “I’m quite comfortable with it.”
In a stop in Quebec City, Couillard spoke on the street to reporters about how his party’s plan to reduce spending is better than the “slash and burn” proposal of his main challenger in the capital region, the CAQ.
“Mr. Legault’s plan isn’t credible because his targets are unrealistic, particularly in spending cuts,” he said. “That couldn’t last more than two or three months, it’ll be total anarchy and cause a breakdown in services.”
The Liberals, he said, would cut spending by reducing the bureaucracy in health and education through attrition, and put the money back into services.
He accused totally “unravelling” with its latest pronouncement that it would help people find other jobs if they were fired for not respecting the charter.
“We’re talking about teachers, nurses and daycare workers,” he said. “Where are they going to send them, Ontario?
“Where are they going to send them, Ontario?” PHILIPPE COUILLARD
“It’s complete confusion, disorganization, improvisation, and unravelling of this political party that has turned its back on its founding principles and is now paying the price.”
The PQ, which would like to wipe the public face of religion from the province, has the wrong idea when it comes to neutrality of the state, he said.
“What religious neutrality means is the state doesn’t favour one religion over an- other, nor does it support there being no religion,” he said.
With only five days left in the campaign, Couillard made promises Wednesday to help vulnerable children and families if elected.
He said his government would open seven new birthing centres during the next five years, creating 125 openings for midwives.
A Liberal government would also help disadvantaged families through community pediatric centres, which encourage parents, schools, hospitals, community organizations, police and volunteers to work together to support underprivileged children. Starting in 2016, $20 million would be earmarked every year for such centres.
His government would also support a project, now underway in three youth centres, to prevent children up to 5 years old from going into foster care.