Eastern Townships MNAS give themselves glowing reviews on first year in office
Coming up on the first anniversary of the Coalition Avenir Quebec (CAQ’S) rise to power in the Province of Quebec, the party’s local members of the National Assembly (MNAS) gathered in Sherbrooke to share reflections on their accomplishments over the last 12 months. François Bonnardel, Minister of Transport and Minister responsible for the Estrie Region, Isabelle Charest, Junior Education Minister, Minister for the Status of Women and MNA for Brome-missisquoi, André Bachand, MNA for Richmond, Geneviève Hébert, MNA for St. Francois, and François Jacques, MNA for Mégantic, met with the media in the absence of their colleague, Orford MNA Gilles Bélanger, to look back on what they consider to be a job well done.
“We are very happy, after a year in office, to have put large amounts of money in people’s pockets” Bonnardel said, speaking on behalf of the group as he praised reduced school taxes, tax credits for low income seniors, and improvements to family allowance. “We are proud to be representing the people of the Estrie.”
The Transport minister said that the Estrie caucus was meeting in Sherbrooke, a Quebec Solidaire riding, as a way of demonstrating the local representatives’ openness to listening to all people
“We are here to listen” Bonnardel said, sharing that the group of elected officials will be meeting in all the
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different local ridings over the coming years to help reach the largest number of people possible.
Asked about what the region has gained over the last year, the MNAS spoke to investments in local roads, as well as in the education and health systems. Specifically, Bonnardel pointed to the additional resources being implemented in the youth protection network and recent infrastructure funding announced for local schools.
Asked if she could provide any clarification on the rumours surrounding the future of English school boards in upcoming legislation, Charest said that there is a distinction between the English and French communities in the bill but had no further information to offer
“We’re going to deposit the projet de loi this week,” she said. “I think the English community will be pretty pleased with what we have to offer.”
The minister said that she has no concerns about the bill causing concern in the French-speaking community.
“I’m pretty positive that it will be very welcome,” she said.
Bonnardel also addressed the fact that his party is working to reduce immigration levels at a time when industries hard hit by the labour shortage are calling for more foreign workers.
“We are all aware of the crying need for workers,” the Minister said, arguing that the CAQ are prioritizing quality over quantity when it comes to immigration. “Under the Liberal government, we received between 50 and 52,000 immigrants per year, but we would lose 6,000 to 8,000 per year because, unfortunately, integration didn’t go well,” he recalled. “For us, it is better to let in only 40,000 in the name of a 90 to 100 per cent success rate.”
Suggesting that a better integrated cohort of immigrants will contribute better to the workforce in the long run, Bonnardel argued that the CAQ is playing the long game and will adjust numbers in the coming years to best serve the population as a whole.
“There is an important link to be forged between the needs with regard to immigration and the needs of the workforce,” he said, adding that the government’s investments in schools are also a part of the effort to shore up the provincial workforce.
In the wake of last week’s local climate strikes, Bonnardel highlighted some of the ways the CAQ is looking to support environmental initiatives such as the conversion of all busses in Quebec to electric motors by 2025 and a movement to have more goods and freight travel across the province by train rather than truck.
On the subject of the local project to improve the train lines across the region and reestablish train service between Sherbrooke and Montreal, the Transport minister spoke with enthusiasm in nonspecific terms about the project, underlining the fact that he thinks the electrification of the project is important while not putting a specific budget or timeline commitment behind that value statement.
“We are the cause of the problem, but we also need to be part of the solution,” he said, with regard to the global cause of reducing greenhouse gas emissions, adding that he feels the conversaion to more environmentally friendly modes of transport will be “an enormous challenge” over the coming 15 to 20 years.
Bachand, meanwhile, addressed the mixed reviews that the CAQ has received from Quebec Anglophones in their first year.
“(Anglophones) are looking at us and saying, what will be the end result?” The Richmond MNA said, adding, “They will see what kind of direction we are following.”
Bachand said that he feels English speaking people in Quebec will find more points of connection with the party over the next couple of months to a year, and disputed the idea that Anglophone communities were upset by legislation like the state secularism law, Bill 21.
“Disagreeing and being upset are two different things,” he said, encouraging people to “just want and see,” before making up their minds about the CAQ.