The vote is set to take place April 7, 2014 and incumbent Premier Pauline Marois has her eyes set on a majority government. However, the nature of Quebec's politics is unpredictable and over the campaign, polls suggest a significant shift in momentum could give Marois's chief opponent Liberal leader Philippe Couillard the executive power. Anything can happen and nothing is guaranteed. Here are the tools you need to make your decision on who has earned your vote.
Meet the Leaders
Pauline Marois
Incumbent Premier Marois is a veteran politician who started in the Rene Levesque days and has run many ministries throughout her time as being an MNA.
Philippe Couillard
Former neurosurgeon and university professor Couillard was the former Health and Social Services Minister from 2003 to 2008. He increased health funding $4.2 billion and prohibited smoking in public.
Francois Legault
Former Minister in the Bernard Landry PQ Government. He was Minister of Education and of Health. Defected from the PQ to build a party to put sovereignty aside to focus on Quebec's economy.
Francoise David
David was President of the Federation des Femmes du Quebec. She has also published "Bien commun recherché - une option citoyenne," which attempts to create a new political doctrine.Economy, Jobs and Families
- Help existing small and medium-sized businesses create jobs by investing in modernization.
- Create a Banque de développement économique du Québec to help small businesses find expertise and investment programs in their region.
- Protect Quebec companies from foreign takeovers.
- Increase investments and spur growth in the social economy sector.
- Make trade deals with the US, Europe and Asia to expand companies' reach to foreign markets.
- Protect workers' rights.
- Budget surplus by 2015-16.
- Create 250,000 jobs in 5 years.
- Introduce a maritime strategy to modernize maritime infrastructure and encourage European trade routes (emphasizing an aggressive export strategy).
- Creation of a Small and Medium-sized Business Minister.
- Create Démarrage-Québec program to stimulate local entrepreneurship and grant visas to immigrant entrepreneurs (These immigrants must learn French).
- Creation of a single business file to centralize information about administrative issues and a portal to access Investissement Quebec to reduce red-tape.
- Create a 100% tax-deductible Property Savings Plan (REP) to allow citizens to invest up to $5,000/year over 10 years to use to buy a new home. Accumulated funds can be redirected to an RRSP if not used to buy a home.
- Budget surplus in first budget through $1.3 billion in cuts.
- Give Investissement-Quebec the mandate to develop a strategy for innovation zones.
- Increase the number of entrepreneurs in Quebec by giving them training and tools.
- Freeze in public sector employee hiring for 4 years.
- Removing duplicated services with Canada.
- Replace free trade agreements with those based on collective compliance, the economy and the advancement of democracy.
- Protect workers' rights.
Tax Policy and Tax Credits
- Hydro Quebec rate increase: 4.3%.
- Cost of Daycare: Increase to $9 by 2015.
- Hydro Quebec rate increase: Limit to 2.2%.
- Health tax: Abolish.
- Capital gains tax exemption for investments in new technology start-ups (A maximum of $150,000 and must be held over 3 years).
- Introduce a 50% tax credit on the cost of transportation services to global markets for small businesses with fewer than 200 employees.
- Capital gains tax exemption of $750,000 for owner-managers who sell their company inside their family.
- Introduce a 20% tax credit (Maximum of $200)for artistic and cultural activities for citizens aged 60 and older who earn less than $40,000 per year.
- Tax credit for home renovations.
- Hydro Quebec rate increase: Limit to 2.2%.
- Health tax: Abolish.
- School tax: Abolish.
- Cost of Daycare: Reverse PQ increase and index increases to inflation.
- Taxpayer's charter restricting tax increases to the rate of inflation.
- Give each individual from the age of 18 a minimum income of $12,600.
Resources
- Explore Quebec's energy independence and look into exploiting natural resources including oil.
- Ban fracking of shale gas.
- Implement a plan to spur northern economic development and modernization in partnership with northern communities by exploiting natural resources.
- Implement the Plan Nord to spur northern economic development by exploiting natural resources.
- Extract Natural gas to preserve remaining heavy industry jobs.
- Advance a rail connection to linking to iron ore deposits.
- Exploit oil and resources in the Gulf of St. Lawrence.
- Nationalize energy resources.
- Reinforce environmental regulations on extraction plans.
- Phase out the use of fossil fuels by 2030.
Environment
- Reduce Greenhouse Gas emissions to 25% of 1990s emissions by 2020
- Expand electric-powered transportation.
- Implement a water protection policy.
- Modernize transport policy.
- Reduce Greenhouse Gas emissions 20% by 2020.
- Designate 10% of marine territory as protected by 2015.
- Invest $3 billion in sustainable infrastructure.
- Reduce Greenhouse Gas emissions 40% by 2020 and 95% by 2050.
- Expand electric-powered transportation and make it free in 10 years.
Agriculture
- Promoting local produce in all businesses across Quebec.
- Promoting local produce in all businesses across Quebec.
- Simplify farm transfer within families.
- Increase accessibility to alcohol products.
- Promoting local produce in all businesses across Quebec.
Culture
- Introduce Language Charter to strengthen Law 101.
- Pass Charter of Values restricting public sector employees including law enforcement and teachers from wearing religious symbols and use Notwithstanding clause.
- Boost tourism along the St-Lawrence, creating wifi hotspots, promoting Quebec food and creating electric charge spots for electric cars.
- Promote and aid Quebec artists.
- Improve the quality of language learning, emphasizing French.
- Reject the Charter of Values.
- Pass Charter of Values restricting public sector employees including law enforcement and teachers from wearing religious symbols.
- Boost tourism along the St-Lawrence.
- Broaden Québec’s responsibilities in the area of promoting its culture beyond our borders.
- Ensure businesses with at least 10 employees use French as their working language.
Sovereignty
- Would hold referendum when they feel Quebecers are ready.
- Opposed.
- Opposed.
- Would hold referendum in the first mandate.
Education and Daycare
- Bridge the gaps between university research and business modernization.
- Promote vocational training and ensure it is widely accessible
- Greater attention to students with learning disabilities
- National literacy program.
- Increase access to post-secondary education by promoting long-distance learning
- Reinvest in post-secondary education while holding University administration accountable for use of funding.
- Create a new Youth policy that deals with cyber-bullying, youth entrepreneurship and deals with youth involvement in organized crime.
- Index tuition hikes to inflation.
- Cut bureaucracy by 40% in the education sector to re-allocate to student services.
- Improve training programs
- Institute a homework counselling service in elementary schools, expand homework help in secondary schools.
- Prioritize detection of students with learning disabilities.
- Work to reduce violence and intimidation in schools.
- Improve the quality of language learning, emphasizing French.
- Index tuition hikes to inflation.
- Early screening of 3-5 year-olds with learning disabilities.
- Increased supervision of secondary school students with regard to learning disabilities.
- Add guidance counselors to assist students in secondary school in making their career choices and in planning their future.
- Improve synergy between private daycare centres and the network of early childhood centres (CPEs) to more rapidly increase the number of spaces in reduced-rate daycare.
- Index tuition hikes to inflation.
- Reduce the number of students per classroom.
- Introduce free tuition.
Healthcare
- Promote healthy life habits to prevent health problems.
- Create a National Sport Strategy.
- Improve access to doctors and clinics.
- Create a Health Portal with updated information.
- Improve monitoring of people with chronic diseases.
- Adopt Right to die legislation which legalizes Doctor-assisted suicide.
- Improve senior care centres.
- Train 2,000 specialized nurse practitioners.
- Promote creation of 50 7-day per week super clinics.
- Allow Quebecers to visit clinics with health card for tests in medical imaging.
- Overhaul healthcare funding to eliminate bureaucracy by 10% and reinvest in patient care.
- Reform physicians’ compensation in order to ensure better medical care of patients.
- Gradually abolish specific medical activities (AMPs) in order to foster the return of general practitioners toward the practice of family medicine.
- Upgrade the role of nurses and to broaden their field of practice by reviewing the sharing of duties with physicians, as well as the organization of care within the health system.
- Streamline the bureaucratic structures by eliminating the health agencies.
- Reverse privatization.
- Ensure every person has access to a doctor.
- Create Pharma-Québec to make access to medication universal and affordable.
Seniors
- Special loans program for homeowners 60 years and older with less than $70,000 in income to aid in managing property and school tax bills. The loan will be repaid upon selling the home.
- Invest $5 million per year over 5 years to support family caregivers.
- Invest $150 million per year over 5 years to strengthen CHSLD to improve home care services.
Montreal
- Will not grant Montreal special status.
- Create a strategy to keep more families in Montreal.
- Support international air routes to Montreal's airport.
- Invest in Montreal's infrastructure.
- Extend the Metro's Blue, Yellow, and Orange lines.
- Negotiate with the federal government to create a light rail system on the new Champlain Bridge.
- Grant Montreal special status and give the city greater autonomy.
- Invest in infrastructure.
- Oppose the federal government's plans to implement tolls on the new Champlain Bridge.
- Develop ports and Highway 25.
- Use the Fonds des générations to protect company headquarters from foreign takeovers - capping the purchasing of outstanding shares to 10%.
- Protect Montreal's french identity.
- Spur the development of biotechnology industry in Montreal.
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