Quebec’s political parties wasted little time pitching promises to voters Friday, with families, seniors and school supplies at the forefront on Day 2 of the provincial election campaign.
Liberal Leader Philippe Couillard said families with children under the age of 18 will get an extra $150 to $300 — per child, per year and tax-free — depending on family income.
WATCH: It’s official, Quebec election campaign kicks-off
Couillard also wants to introduce other measures designed to improve the work-life balance for families, including 2,000 more subsidized daycare spots to be opened in educational institutions and companies.
Quebec families, he noted, have access to the most generous social programs in the country but often have to scramble around and are strapped for time. The estimated overall cost of the measures is about $380 million.
“In our next term, a Liberal government will offer more time to families, more facility in order to balance work, life and studies because we have young parents in universities and cegeps who need attention,” Couillard said.
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Meanwhile, the Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ) pledged to do away with the province’s long-term care facilities to replace them with more modern seniors’ homes with better amenities — a 20-year project it says will involve an initial investment of $1 billion.
Legault described the plan to replace the care facilities as a generational one that will take until 2038 to complete.
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The new homes would include between 70 and 130 units, while at least 30 new facilities would be built from scratch following consultation with users, staff and architects.
The Coalition estimates the first phase would cost $1 billion in fixed assets and an additional $245 million a year in operating expenses. A Coalition government would not build any more of the long-term care facilities, known colloquially in Quebec as CHSLDs.
“I think it’s very realistic,” Legault said. “We owe that to our seniors.”
READ MORE: CAQ’s Legault offers Quebecers ‘middle way’ as election campaign begins
The Parti Québécois (PQ) proposed Friday that parents be given a choice when it comes to school supplies by asking schools to offer them the option of buying notebooks, pencils and binders for them.
PQ Leader Jean-Francois Lisee says the option would give parents the choice of signing up for the package or taking the $100 currently given by the province and buying their own supplies.
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