On day 9 of the election campaign, Conservative leader Éric Duhaime wants to encourage Quebecers to move more: he promises a $500 tax credit to anyone who buys a gym membership or a sports team.
” [On veut] lose our excess weight accumulated during the last two years” of the pandemic, said Mr. Duhaime, visiting the CrossFit Quebec City gym. To benefit from the tax credit, receipts for physical activity subscriptions could be attached to the declaration income, explained the leader of the Conservative Party of Quebec (PCQ).
Regarding the costs of this commitment, Éric Duhaime specified that they would be detailed in the financial framework. The latter should be unveiled by the first leaders’ debate on September 15.
But for the Conservative leader, this tax credit “will not cost money”. “It will pay off for the state in the medium and long term, because we know that investing in people’s health and in physical activity in the medium term reduces health costs,” he said. he argues.
Rally “dissatisfied” athletes
If he had been prime minister, Éric Duhaime would have done things differently during the pandemic in terms of sport, he said. “Rather than closing the gyms, rather than telling people to stay at home and listen to Netflix and read books, we should have encouraged people to move more. »
Asked whether he was taking advantage of “the grumbling” of Quebecers dissatisfied with gym closures during the health crisis, Éric Duhaime replied that the dissatisfaction of some with regard to these decisions was “obvious”. According to him, the coaches should have been used to get people moving outside.
Since the start of the election campaign, the Conservative leader has insisted on making sport one of the key themes of his campaign. On August 22, the PCQ announced a series of promises regarding physical activity, including that of investing massively in sports facilities.
Across Quebec, the political party also intends to make 30-minute physical education sessions mandatory every day of the week, from kindergarten to the end of high school.
The Quebec sales tax (QST) would be suspended on sports equipment and subscriptions to a sports activity.