Quebec Premier Philippe Couillard reflects back on 2014

QUEBEC CITY – December is a time for premiers to reflect on what they’ve accomplished.

Global’s Caroline Plante sat down for a one-on-one interview with Quebec Premier Philippe Couillard about his year in review.

CP: Mr. Couillard, thank you for being with us. There are tons of things we could talk about in this year-ender, but let me start by asking you about something close to Quebec’s English-speaking community…Bill 10…why eliminate local governance in health-care institutions? What good will it do to strip the community of its board members?

PC: Well I think all communities and all Quebecers will benefit from reducing bureaucracy in health-care, essentially getting rid of the middlemen. The good news about Montreal is of course it’s not only one institution, there will be many more, and it will take into account the social linguistic realities. Not one institution will lose its linguistic status and we will make sure the board reflects the composition of the population that’s going to be served.

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CP: It doesn’t change the fact that Anglo institutions are losing their boards. Are you not weakening the community?

PC: I don’t think so, if you look at the diverse institutions on the island of Montreal, for example, the West Island is going to be essentially comprised of English-speaking institutions, of course the board composition will be reflected there.

CP: Nurses, teachers and other civil servants are angry you’re freezing their wages for two years. They say they’re worth more…and it’s obvious you miss the sound of banging pots. Is it the case? How will you deal with unions in 2015?

PC: We do recognize that it’s not something that is pleasant, it’s an initial proposal for negotiation that will take place with unions. One thing is certain: demonstrations will not make new money appear in the trees.

CP: Starting in January, parents will have to pay more for daycare. You’re being accused of breaking your election promise not to raise fees higher than inflation. What do you say to the argument money can be found elsewhere – in tax havens, in big corporations who some say don’t pay enough taxes?

PC: There’s always good reasons to try to find other solutions, the problem is those solutions take time to materialize if they ever materialize. Now let me go back to daycare fees. With the federal tax credits that we know now are going to be applied to the fees, the actual cost of a daily fee for a family making $75 000, it’s going to be $6.83, far from what you’ve been reading in the papers and hearing from pressure groups. In fact the vast majority of families are going to pay less than $9.

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CP: Yet the perception remains that it’s an election promise that’s been broken…

PC: I wish we didn’t find $5-$7 billion deficit when we asked independent people, both Mr. Godbout and Mr. Montmarquette, then the auditor general to review the government’s books and this is what we found. Tell me if anyone knew that before the election last April.

CP: We’ve just learned Quebec will receive billions in equalization payments from Ottawa this year. How do we go from being a poor province to being a rich province?

PC: It will take time but we must have this as an objective. It can happen. How did happen in Newfoundland? Because of the vast quantities of fossil fuel exploitations that they undertook and are still doing today. I don’t think we have this amount of resources in Quebec so we have to look at other ways of developing our economy, small and medium businesses, Plan Nord, our maritime strategy, hydro electricity as a way to attract businesses and jobs in Quebec.

CP: You’re saying no to shale gas?

PC: At the present time, both from the economic side and the social acceptability side, it’s very difficult to see how we could forward.

Read more: Quebec Premier Philippe Couillard says no to shale gas

CP: There have been terrorist attacks in St-Jean-sur-Richelieu, in Ottawa and now in Sydney, Australia…what will your government do to fight radicalization?

PC: First on the security standpoint we are collaborating with the RCMP and other security services in the country, internationally too, Ottawa is obviously the coordinator of all this activity, but we also need to reach to the communities themselves. That is why I met with the leaders of the Muslim community a few weeks ago and we want to make sure we do act in a responsible way but also talk to these young people who seek a solution where there are no solutions, there’s no future in radicalization and violence. But in order to prevent this we need to be able to get in the community upstream and prevent that.

CP: Will there be a budget for that, resources?

PC: There’s always a budget for that. Security is a top priority and the SQ is on a daily basis collaborating with the rest of the country’s security forces.

CP: What did you tell the Muslim community?

PC: We know that the great vast majority of Muslim Quebecers are hardworking people who just want to be here and live in the community in a harmonious way. I don’t want them to be stigmatized by what’s happening and it’s hard because it’s easy to build stereotypes and pull communities apart. By meeting them personally, showing them it matters to me, that’s the first message and also taking action together in the communities, looking at job opportunities, education, community work with the youth in those communities I think it’s going to be much more helpful than other approaches where we just isolate them and try to stay away from them.

CP: Premier Couillard, thank you very much.