QUEBEC CITY – One year ago, Quebecers showed Pauline Marois the door and put their faith in Philippe Couillard.
The province’s 31st premier promised to balance the budget and refrain from hiking taxes and fees higher than inflation.
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Of the Liberals’ 158 election promises, Laval University researchers say 48% were kept or kept in part, while 7% were broken.
“The bottom line is that we’re all sincere and very determined to succeed,” Couillard told a press conference Tuesday morning.
Determined early on to set a new tone, the Premier recalled the Dying with Dignity bill and passed it into law.
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He solidified the relationship between the Montreal and Quebec City mayors when he acted on a promise to re-organize municipal pension plans.
Deficit-sharing pleased the mayors but not the unionized city workers, who booed Municipal Affairs Minister Pierre Moreau during a particularly intense protest.
The government ploughed on with major reforms in the healthcare sector, passing Bill 10 to streamline bureaucracy and merge governing boards of health establishments.
Anglophones argued the vitality of their institutions was at stake.
Later invoking closure to pass the bill, Health Minister Gaétan Barrette said it was “all about the patient.”
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Bill 10 paved the way for Bill 20, another controversial piece of legislation, currently under study, forcing doctors to meet a patient quota or risk losing up to 30% of their pay.
The proposed legislation was enough for McGill’s Medical Faculty to take to the streets for the very first time in its history.
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“It’s pushing students out,” said McGill medical student Lee Harel-Sterling.
In March, the Couillard government checked off its biggest election promise to date – but balancing the budget came at a cost.
The Liberals had to slash health and education budgets and increase daycare fees, broken promises that continue to fuel the anti-austerity protest movement.
“Our message goes directly to the young generation. They should be wary of false friends who want to pile up the credit card and give them the problem of paying it back down the line,” said Couillard, adding he “didn’t regret anything.”
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