The Parti Québécois (PQ) is gathering this weekend for a pre-election convention, but a new poll shows its political rivals soaring ahead.
According to the latest survey published late Friday by Le Devoir and the Leger polling company, the Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ) is now well in the lead.
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The CAQ has shot up to 39 per cent, three points up from December and 11 points ahead of the governing Liberals, now at 28 per cent. The PQ gained one point, but is still firmly in third place at 20 per cent.
However, party faithful at a PQ party convention in Saint-Hyacinthe said they’re not discouraged by months of poor showing in the polls.
“I’m very confident the Parti Québécois is going to be able to show who we are in 2018,” said party president Gabrielle Lemieux.
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Two thirds of poll respondents said they want the government to reinvest in health and education while only one third said they’d prefer tax cuts.
Now, the PQ is switching up its message track.
Attacking Liberal austerity, a new slogan asks: “Do you want a government on a diet, or one that works out?”
“We think we need a very strong state, a state that can give services to the population when the needs are expressed,” Lemieux said.
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“Is it bizarre that in an electoral year, spending is enormously higher than in the year after and the year after that?” said leader, Jean-François Lisée during his opening speech.
The wave of election promises has already begun for all parties.
Earlier this week, the PQ announced its daycare platform.
It says it is against tax cuts proposed by other parties, but the PQ’s plan to re-instate a single childcare fee at $8/day would amount to a tax break for upper-middle-class families who currently pay over $20 a day.
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“I’ll be frank with you. I don’t know a lot of young families who earn $200,000 a year and use public daycare,” Terrebonne MNA Mathieu Traversy said, adding it’s also a question of universality.
The PQ also promises not to raise income taxes.