Elections are a chance to choose a vision for Quebec. This comparison will be long, but it is complete and based directly off the content that was available in the party platforms of the four major provincial parties – the Liberals, Parti Quebecois, Coalition Avenir Quebec and Quebec Solidaire. It will include the different party stances side by side in an easy to understand format. In 2008, Quebec saw the lowest voter turnout in history with ballots cast by only 57% of eligible voters. This time, the goal of Quebec as a society should be to increase voter turnout and send a strong message to the Quebec government as to the choices and convictions we want to make as a society. Below is what you need to know about the four main parties vying for your votes. Share (Facebook, Twitter, Google +) this page with your friends and family and encourage them to vote on September 4, even if the choice is none of the above (scrapping the ballot).
The race is going to be tight in many ridings, make your vote count.
You have the choice for the vision of the Quebec that you prefer. Everything will be classified by major headers and is in a random order. Blank spaces indicate that there was nothing mentioned in the platform concerning the topic in question.
Meet the Leaders
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| Leader | Jean Charest | Pauline Marois |
| Profile | Premier of Quebec for the last 9 years. Originally Environment Minister in the Mulroney Government and ran for leadership of the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada. He was later invited down to build the Liberal Party of Quebec to fight off the strong separatist movement in the 1990s. | Marois is a veteran politician who started in the Rene Levesque days and has run many ministries throughout her time as being an MNA. She held the ministries of: Status of Women, Labour and Income Security, Finance and Revenue, Education, Child and Welfare, Industry and trade, and as a critic for International Relations. |
| Full Platform | ||
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| Leader | Francois Legault | Amir Khadir and Francoise David |
| Profile | 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 focus on the future of Quebec rather than its sovereignty. | Khadir was born in Tehran, Iran and migraded to Quebec at 10 years old. He studied physics and medicine and practices at the Centre hospitalier Pierre-Le-Gardeur in Lachenaie. David was President of the Federation des Femmes du Quebec. |
| Full Platform |
Economy
| Economy | PLQ | PQ | CAQ | QS |
| Jobs and Unemployment | - Create 250K jobs - Reduce unemployment by 6% by 2017 - Welfare recipients under 21 years will be paid $120/month to engage in employment process | - Establish a program to encourage entrepreneurship | - Establish a program to encourage entrepreneurship - Increase employment among older people and immigrants | |
| Personal Taxes | - Increase taxes to citizens with salaries of more than $130K and $250K | - $1000 tax cut for middle class families - Reduce School taxes - Simplified income tax for seniors | - Create a new progressive tax scheme that will lower taxes for lower and middle class families and raise taxes for the rich | |
| Corporate Taxes | - Increase capital gains tax exemption from $750K to $1M for Quebec-based family farms that stay in the family | - Implement progressive taxation with tax brackets - Tighten tax laws to fight tax evasion - Reevaluate incentives with the aim of progressively reducing them | ||
| Tax Credits | - Increase accessibility to work premium tax credit - Refundable tax credit for caregivers 22% tax credit on green renovations worth a maximum of $3,000 - 50% of the cost of creating a daycare center in a company | -Tax credit for families who enroll in education or artistic programs | - Tax incentives to businesses that invest in technology -Tax credit to those who regularly enroll and participate in training programs | - Use of rail or water to transport goods |
| Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec | Expand mandate to increase its contribution to Quebec and its businesses to prevent outsourcing | Expand the mandate to increase its contribution to Quebec and its businesses | Change the mandate to make it accountable to National Assembly rather than Government and elect citizen representation on the board of directors and make it support training of workers | |
| Resource Economy | - Develop Northern Resources - Develop Shale Gas - Tax credit for development of Plan Nord for total of $500 as annual minimum - Launch the Réseau universitaire du Plan Nord. | -Mandatory 5% fee of gross value of mineral resources - Introduce tax of 30% on mine profits. | - Develop hydroelectricity - Natural resources fund for projects | - Royalties on resource extraction - Nationalize Strategic Resource extraction - Manufacture raw materials in Quebec |
| Old Age Hiring | - Salary Support for hiring experienced workers aged 55+ - Payroll tax reduction of up to $1,000 for hiring workers aged 65+ | - Increase number of older workers in the market | ||
| Other Initiatives | - Trade with Europe - Increase foreign recruitment - Create Quebec Ambition Fund to allocate capital to finance strategic acquisitions of companies who seek a foreign growth path - Quebec companies can evaluate buyout offers and refuse them - Invest in tourism - Promote Quebec foods | - Create Bank of Economic Development to simplify aid for businesses - Create technology development fund to pay for electric vehicles and rail lines - Aim to connect all cities to high-speed internet | - Downsize bureaucracy - Eliminate 7,000 jobs from Hydro Quebec - Cut perks to public servants - Streamline and cut administration and administrative process - Reduce the government size by streamlining structures - Tax credit for innovation - Make a secret ballot mandatory for union certification of workers and for certain other votes, such as the vote to strike and the acceptance or refusal of management offers - Promote Quebec foods | - Excersise trade union rights - ban both lockouts and recourse to injunctions against picketing |
| Minimum Wage | Raise to $11.72/hr | |||
| Deficit | Eliminated by 2013-2014 | |||
| Debt | - 100% of royalties from non–renewable resources goes to debt repayment - Future surplus will go to debt repayment - Aim to reduce gross debt from 55% of GDP to 45% of GDP by 2025 | - Repayment a Priority - 100% of royalties from non-renewable resources goes to debt repayment | ||
| Net Impact of Promises | $1.2B | Unsaid | Unsaid | Unsaid |
Healthcare
| Healthcare | PLQ | PQ | CAQ | QS |
| Innovations and Changes | - Support consolidation of pre-hospital emergency services across all region - Telehealth to provide more procedures, consultations and better follow-up. - Dental coverage under the Régie de l’assurance maladie du Québec is expanded to those aged 16 -Greater role for nurses | - Reduce bureaucracy - Eliminate duplicate administrative structures - Redirect resources to direct services | - 1 doctor per family within 1 year - Implement all recommendations of the Special Commission on Dying with Dignity - Abolish health agencies and social services - Focus on preventing the need for healthcare services to relieve stress and burden - Support to sport organizations as a preventative measure | - 1 doctor per family - Expanded homecare system |
| Tax | $400/person | Eliminate | Eliminate | Eliminate |
| Public Drug Plan | - Review, place strong emphasis on generic drugs | - Create Pharma-Quebec and a universal public medical insurance | ||
| Online Health Records | - Continue Process | - Take over process | ||
| Public vs. Private | - Regulate private sector old age homes | - Pilot project where doctors are paid by private sector after sufficient hours in public sector | - End privatization of healthcare and nationalize the system |
Families
| Families | PLQ | PQ | CAQ | QS |
| New Daycare Spaces | 15,000 | 250,000 | 40,000 | |
| Daycare Changes | - Index daily contribution made by parents to inflation rate over next 5 years (price of daycare goes up) | - Gradually transfer money going to private daycare to public daycare | ||
| Fighting Poverty | - Renovate existing social housing units - Retired workers get extra support to ensure they keep their homes and die with dignity | - Retired workers get extra support to ensure they keep their homes and die with dignity - Will follow guidelines of the Commission spéciale Mourir dans la dignité | - Establish reasonable delay timeframe for tenant’s cases - Guaranteed, unconditional minimal income of $12K to replace welfare and reduce poverty. - Adopt policy to fend off real-estate and land speculation which artificially increases the cost of land, housing and rent | |
| New Social Housing Units | 3,000 | 3,000 | 50,000 | |
| Pensions | - Enact legislation to exempt employer contributions from seizure in the event of sale, restructuring or bankruptcy | - Reimburse public pension funds of workers affected by closure of a company who received public funding - Create a universal Quebec Public Pension Plan | ||
| Employment Insurance | Repatriate |
Education
| Education | PLQ | PQ | CAQ | QS |
| Tuition | Increase $254 per year rather than $325 for 7 years. - Will take Effect September 2012 | Abolish the tuition fee increase and hold a public forum on the future of education | Increase $200 for 5 years rather than $325 for 7 years and then index annually for inflation - Will take effect January 2013 | Eliminate tuition for public institutions |
| Accessibility | - Maximum family income in loan and bursaries program increases to $45K from $30K - 50% of full-time univeristy students will be eligible for loan and brsaries - 67,000 university students will be entitled to bursaries that are equivalent or higher than the tuition increase. | - Freeze Tuition Hike | - Improve loans and bursaries program | - Eliminate all costs for public institutions - Improve loans and bursaries program until minimum income applies to students |
| University funding | - Capped at $1 billion by 2017 - Contribution of 17% from students and 83% from taxpayers | - Conditional, based on submission of a plan by universities to improve services for students | ||
| Bill 78 | Keep | Abolish | Abolish | Abolish |
| Primary and Secondary Schools | - $100 nontaxable financial assistance to each child attending elementary to buy supplies | - Abolish funding for private schools that focus primarily on religious teachings and don’t follow the Quebec curriculum | - Add an hour per day to the schedule for extracurricular, homework help and reading periods - Increase salaries of Principals and teachers | - Eliminate all costs for public institutions - Promote development of free extracurricular activities - Hire more staff to reduce number of students per classroom - Transfer government subsidies to private schooling progressively to the public sector |
| Law on bridging schools | Keep | Repeal | Repeal | Repeal |
| Students with Learning disabilities and special needs | - Increase learning staff to help - Change funding of private schools to force them to adapt | -Improve learning conditions | ||
| Course modifications in the Quebec Curriculum | - Introduction to Entrepreneurship class to be taught to Secondary 4 and 5 students - Add 10 hours of Community volunteer work as a requirement to Contemporary World class in Secondary 5 | - Reinforce history lessons to focus on Quebec history and its institutions | - Mandatory Entrepreneurial, Economics and Personal Finance Class for Secondary 4 students - Eliminate the Ethics and Religious Culture Course at Elementary Level | |
| School Boards | Keep | Eliminate duplicate services, minimize | Abolish |
Democracy and Accountability
| Democracy and Accountability | PLQ | PQ | CAQ | QS |
| Initiatives | - Limit the number of mandates of a premier to 2 - Limit the number of mandates of a mayor to 3 in towns with more than 5000 inhabitants - Hold municipal and school elections on the same date - Allow a referendum on Quebec sovereignty to be called upon a petition of 15% of the Quebec population | - Appoint a new municipal ethics commissioner - Reduce population requirement to have an obligational auditor general from 100K to 50K - Public bodies must disclose information and expenditures of $25K or more. - Expand powers of Auditor General to include Crown corporations - Create integrity commissioner - Create a Parliamentary Budget Officer for the National Assembly | - Decentralize power towards municipalities | |
| Fixed Election Date | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Electoral System | Mixed where 60% of MNAs are elected through first past the post and 40% through proportional representation through equally weighted regions | |||
| Collusion | - Company operators or shareholders found guilty of a serious crime will lose right to bid on public contracts | - New rules for public contracts - Standardize rules and limits for public bodies; extend some to municipalities and crown corporations | - Implement public inquiry on rewarding of public contracts | |
| Political financing | - Limit political donations to $100 per voter | - Limit political donations to $100 per voter per year and only to one party; Chief electoral officer will pay $3 for every dollar donated | ||
| Quebec Independence | No | At the first possible referendum | No | At the first possible referendum |
| Justice | - Expand legal aid eligibility to single minimum wage workers - Make it easier for victims of police brutality to get judicial aid | - Expand legal aid eligibility to single minimum wage workers - Enforce payment equity |
Environment
| Environment | PLQ | PQ | CAQ | QS |
| Public Transit | - Invest $325M into Montreal metro stations-Add 300 km of bus lanes in Montreal - More parking spaces | - Create more bus lanes, extend subway lines and increase frequency of commuter trains, especially in Montreal and Quebec City | - Create Suburban trains and new bus corridors - Reserve traffic lanes for speed buses in urban centers - Environmental credit programs for public transit companies to save - More parking spaces | - Prioritize creation and upkeep of networks - Free public transport in 10 years - Provide compensation for individuals who cannot access public transit |
| Private Vehicles | - Electric vehicles by 2025 | - Promote electric, hybrid and low gas consumption cars | - Promote fuel-efficient vehicles | |
| Green Energy | Promote | Promote | Promote | |
| Other | - Increase northern protected zones by 20% by 2020 - Decrease Green House Gas Emissions by 20% by 2024 | - Reduce greenhouse emissions to 25% that of 1990 by 2020 | - Increase royalty for industrial water exploitation | - Found Energie-Quebec to oversee energy production and distribution - Develop wind power through Eole-Quebec - Eliminate use of fossil fuels by 2030 |
| Asbestos | Develop | Ban | ||
| Shale gas | Develop | Ban | Ban |
Quebec Culture
| Quebec Culture | PLQ | PQ | CAQ | QS |
| Initiatives | - $55M for celebrations surrounding the founding of Montreal and enhance historical sites | - Support efforts to increase cultural activities by students in primary and secondary schools - Increase exposure to Quebec artists - Simplify funding to cultural activities - Must pass a French test before being eligible to run for public office -Strengthen Quebec's presence in the Francophonie | - $100M to promote Quebec arts and culture - In dealing with the federal government, the goal will be for Quebec to defend its interests and autonomy - Quebec has the right to opt-out of federal programs | - Increase funding for arts and culture |
| Law 101 | Maintain | Expand scope to all companies with more than 10 employees, to all colleges, vocational schools and adult education | Reinforce the language police to aid in the expansion of French enforcement | Expand scope to all companies with more than 10 employees |
| Identity | - Quebec constitution to assert and establish legal core values of the Quebec nation including predominance of French, gender equality, and secularity of public institutions - Create Quebec citizenship | |||
| Secularism Charter | Ban all religious symbols except the crucifix from public institutions | Adopt a Quebec Charter of Secularism |
Foreign Policy and Immigration
| Foreign Policy | PLQ | PQ | CAQ | QS |
| Trade | - Trade with Europe | - Trade with Asia | ||
| Immigration | - Ask Ottawa to allow easier issuing of student visas | - All immigrants will have to pass a French Language test before being able to run for public office | - Limit immigration to 45K people per year for 2 years to properly deploy new employment integration features - Renegotiate Canada-Quebec Agreement dealing with family reunification | - Allow foreign workers to continue working through proceedings over complaints - Foreign agricultural workers will have access to publically funded community programs |
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