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Quebec Premier François Legault dove headfirst into the federal election campaign Thursday, telling Quebecers that he was leaning towards a minority Conservative government and that the Liberal, NDP and Green platforms are “dangerous” for the Quebec nation.
“I find it very concerning that three parties, the Liberals, the NDP and the Green, are not only not open to giving more autonomy to Quebec but want to centralize and appropriate powers that are clearly provincial jurisdictions,” Legault said during a press conference.
“I am nationalist, I want Quebec to be more autonomist and have more power. There are three parties that want to give us less autonomy. And I find that dangerous,” added the premier, who is immensely popular and whose party has been polling around 45 per cent in the province lately.
On the flip side, he lauded Conservative
leader Erin O'Toole's willingness to hand over more power to the province or write cheques with “no conditions” attached. “For the Quebec nation, Mr. O'Toole's approach is a good one,” he said.
“To get more power back to Quebec, it seems to be easier with Mr. O'Toole than with Mr. Trudeau.”
During the press conference, Legault was particularly critical of the Liberal, New Democrat and Green parties' “centralizing” promises on health care and immigration, which he claimed intervene unnecessarily in the province's affairs.
He repeated his previous criticism of Trudeau's and Singh's promise to impose national long-term care home standards, which is normally a provincial responsibility.
He also did not take kindly to Trudeau, Singh and Paul's refusal to make a commitment that a federal government under their purview wouldn't fund legal challenges to Quebec's controversial Bill 21, which notably bans many public sector employees from wearing religious symbols.
“I heard Mr. Trudeau say that he does not rule out taking part in appeals against Bill 21. However, there is a large consensus in the Quebec nation to ban religious symbols for people in authority. Mr. Trudeau does not respect that. I find that worrying,” Legault said.
On the other hand, he said that O'Toole would do the opposite on those files and transfer more power to Quebec, which is what Quebec nationalists should support. He also said it would be “easier” to negotiate with O'Toole for more powers in the future.
“The Conservative party has been clear: they want to increase health transfers with no conditions, they want to transfer immigration powers, and Mr. O'Toole has committed to not funding opposition to Bill 21,” Legault said.
He also applauded O'Toole's commitment that a Conservative government would not participate in potential appeals to Bill 21.
When pressed by reporters about his preferences for the election, Legault admitted that a minority government “would be better for the Quebec nation” but he stopped short of telling Quebecers how to vote because “no party fulfills all our demands.”
Legault sees one major issue with O'Toole, and his promise to cancel the agreement signed by the Liberals that would send $6 billion — no strings attached — to Quebec as part of Trudeau's push to create $10 per day daycare systems in all provinces.
“Mr. O'Toole seems to want to cancel that agreement, which means that there will be $6 billion to recover, and I think that he needs to explain that,” Legault said.
O'Toole's worst moments during the two French language debates in the campaign have been during discussions on childcare. Wednesday evening, Trudeau accused the Conservative leader of “not even understanding” Quebec's daycare system when he promised to replace the Liberal agreement with a far less costly tax credit to parents.
Despite his government's $6-billion deal with Trudeau, Legault still threw a barb Thursday at the Liberals, who have often repeated that the agreement with Quebec would serve to fund 37,000 new daycare spaces.
“The agreement comes with no conditions, meaning that we can invest it in any sector we'd like,” Legault said. “It's not true, as Mr. Trudeau claims, that we have an agreement to create 37,000 new daycare spots.”
Legault also conceded that the health transfer increases promised by O'Toole were not up to his expectations either, but he was quick to add that it was already more than what Trudeau was promising.
Legault made nearly no mention of the Bloc Québécois during the press conference, if only to highlight that the party would never form government.
The premier's comments come as a recent Leger-Postmedia survey showed Conservatives and Liberals in lockstep nationally at 33 per cent support each. This means both parties would be seeking to score points in battle ground ridings such as Quebec, where Legault's support helped boost the Bloc Québécois in the 2019 election from 10 to 32 seats.
In Quebec, the Liberals still lead voting intentions with 34 per cent, but that was a considerable seven point drop since the beginning of the campaign. That support has seemingly shifted over to the Conservatives (21 per cent, up six points since mid-August) and the NDP (12 per cent, a fourpoint increase).