Quebec Premier François Legault calls Liberal, NDP and Green plans ‘dangerous’, praises Conservative Leader Erin O’Toole

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Quebec Premier François Legault is giving low marks to the Liberals, NDP and Greens after Wednesday’s French-language leaders’ debate, saying the three parties hold “dangerous” views and are not supportive of the province’s requests in areas such as health transfers and immigration.

The influential Premier offered a mixed review of Conservative Leader Erin O’Toole, praising several of his positions while objecting to the party’s new platform costing that shows a Conservative government would not honour a federal agreement to give Quebec $6-billion for child care.

While not explicitly stated, the Premier’s comments seemed to imply that a vote for the Conservatives or the Bloc Québécois would be preferable to supporting the other main parties.

“It’s up to Quebeckers to decide [who to vote for],” he said at a news conference in Quebec City. “But what I’m saying is I’m nationalist. I want Quebec to have more autonomy and more power. And there are three parties – the Liberal Party, the NDP and the Green Party – that want to give us less autonomy. I find that dangerous.”

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Quebec is a key battleground because of the fact it sends 78 MPs to Ottawa and also because voters in the province are less predictable than in other parts of the country. In 2019, the Liberals won 35 seats in the province, followed by 32 for the Bloc, 10 for the Conservatives and one for the NDP. Party standings in the province have fluctuated significantly from one election to next.

During Wednesday’s debate, Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau and Bloc Leader Yves-François Blanchet attacked the Conservative Leader over his party’s platform costing, which had just been released earlier that day. Specifically, Mr. Trudeau and Mr. Blanchet highlighted the fact the Conservative platform does not commit to maintaining a federal agreement to transfer $6-billion to Quebec over five years as part of a national child-care plan.

Child care is one of the biggest differences between the Liberal and Conservative platforms. The Liberals are planning to spend $29.8-billion over five years on a national child-care program, while the Conservatives propose a tax credit instead that would cost $2.6-billion over five years.

Mr. Legault said the $6-billion agreement did not include conditions, contradicting Mr. Trudeau’s assertions during the debate that the money would create new child-care spaces.

“The current agreement for $6-billion says that we could spend it on health, on education on child care, whatever we want,” said Mr. Legault. “Mr. O’Toole seems to want to cancel this agreement … Mr. O’Toole needs to explain himself.”

The Premier noted that Mr. O’Toole is largely supportive of other Quebec priorities, including increasing health care transfers without conditions, giving Quebec more power over the family reunification stream of immigration and funding part of a multibillion-dollar tunnel in the Quebec City area called the “third link.” He also said the Conservative Leader would not support a federal court challenge of the province’s Bill 21, which bans people in some positions of authority from wearing religious symbols.

“For the Quebec nation, Mr. O’Toole’s approach is a good approach. However, Mr. O’Toole wants to deny us from receiving $6-billion without conditions. That’s not good,” he said. “To obtain more powers for Quebec, it seems like it will be easier with Mr. O’Toole than with Mr. Trudeau.”

After the French-language debate, Mr. O’Toole was asked during a news conference about cancelling the Liberal child-care deal.

“We are going to co-ordinate with Premier Legault and, in our budget, we have a detailed, costed plan for this,” he said. “We need to work together on daycares. I respect provincial jurisdiction, and in addition to that, we have an approach that will help all families in Quebec and, particularly, a fair approach for low-income families.”

He promised federalism based on partnership.

Jean-Yves Duclos, a Liberal candidate in Quebec, said the federal government has been working extremely well with the Quebec government, signing agreements on such issues as transit, health and housing, reflecting shared values with Quebeckers.

“The values and visions of Mr. O’Toole are very disconnected from the reality that I see and feel in Quebec,” he said, listing gun control as an area where Liberal policies are better aligned with public opinion in Quebec.

Mr. Duclos and Liberal candidate Chrystia Freeland held a news conference to highlight areas of the Conservative platform that would represent spending cuts, such as child care.

When asked to respond to Mr. Legault’s comments, Ms. Freeland opted instead to praise the leadership of women and feminists in Quebec for their work on child care.

“I have the most respect for Quebeckers and I trust them to listen carefully to what we are committing to in our platform, to look carefully at what our government has done already, and I trust them to make the right choice for themselves,” she said.

The federalist parties have generally kept Quebec’s Bill 21 off the radar during this campaign. The controversial law bans certain public-sector workers from wearing visible religious symbols on the job and became a wedge issue in the 2019 election, which the separatist Bloc used to fuel a surprisingly strong performance.

In photos: Federal Leaders square off in French-Language debate

This election, none of the parties have taken a strong stand against a law that is popular in Quebec but has faced criticism – particularly from outside the province – from those who say it violates fundamental rights.

Mr. Trudeau said in last week’s TVA French-language debate that he would not rule out the possibility of a federal legal challenge of the Quebec law.

“There’s a large consensus in the Quebec nation that we want to prevent people in authority from wearing religious symbols,” Mr. Legault said. “Mr. Trudeau does not respect this and I find that worrying.”

With a report from Eric Andrew-Gee in Montreal

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