CAQ leader François Legault said Tuesday that Quebec sovereignty would be financially viable despite a loss of revenue he anticipates from the federal government.
Mr. Legault said that, in his opinion, this is not the priority of Quebecers.
“Yes, it would be viable,” he said at a press briefing. There would also be a financial challenge, when you look at the level of equalization that we currently receive, but I think that Quebec would be viable. »
In an editorial interview with The dutypublished on Monday, Mr. Legault pointed out that a sovereign Quebec would lose $10 billion a year in equalization revenue and federal transfers.
During a stage of his electoral tour in Gaspésie, however, he recognized that Quebec has the means to be sovereign.
“There is a level of wealth, when we compare ourselves to the average of countries in the world, which is relatively high, even if we have a wealth gap with Ontario, unfortunately, which we are in the process of eliminate, ”said the CAQ leader.
On Monday, the leader of the Parti Québécois (PQ), Paul St-Pierre Plamondon, accused Mr. Legault of holding a more federalist discourse than his Liberal predecessors, Jean Charest and Philippe Couillard.
On Tuesday, the CAQ leader failed to respond to the comparison made by his PQ counterpart, contenting himself with referring to his current Liberal opponent. “I tried to ask myself the question, if I was more federalist than Dominique Anglade, and I have trouble understanding what he means,” he said.
“PSPP” welcomes the change of tone
In Mascouche, Tuesday, Paul St-Pierre Plamondon welcomed the change of tone of the chief caquiste in front of “obviousness”.
“Obviously Quebec is viable,” he said. Of course, if we isolate equalization only, we can say that we are not capable. But you have to look at federal spending as a whole. »
In its updated year one budget – which will not finally be made public before election day – the PQ had raised “5.1 billion dollars just in duplication”.
“Two governments doing the same thing at the same time and spending all their time trying to understand each other and then coordinating so that more often than not nothing gets done,” he said. tuesday.
The spokesperson for Québec solidaire, Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois, is convinced that independence would pay off down the line.
“Me, I think that independence is a project that will enrich us collectively. It will enrich us economically because there is a lot of duplication [de services entre Ottawa et Québec] which will disappear. It will also enrich us socially, culturally. It will enrich our relationship with the Aboriginal peoples, with whom we share the territory of Quebec, ”he argued, during a stop in the capital on Tuesday.
Asked about the viability of a sovereign Quebec, Liberal leader Dominique Anglade replied that the real question was “at what cost”.
“We are definitely not what we are defending,” she added. According to the Liberals, the future of Quebec must be determined with “the federal government”.
Aboriginals and North Shore
At the end of a meeting with Aboriginal leaders in Sept-Îles, the second stage of his day, François Legault pledged on Tuesday to conclude a treaty by March 31, 2023 with the Petapan group, made up of three Innu communities from Lac-Saint-Jean and the North Shore.
“We gave ourselves that as our objective, to sign a treaty that would be historic,” he said. The negotiations are going very well. »
The duty reported last week that the negotiations were particularly stuck on the reluctance of Quebec to recognize that the right of indigenous peoples to self-determination is inherent.
On Tuesday, Mr. Legault circumscribed the framework in which the government places the demands of the Aboriginal peoples.
“We must recognize the territory but without taking the risk that the territory is divisible and that there is an automatic right of veto,” he said.
After their meeting with Mr. Legault, chefs Martin Dufour, from Essipit, Gilbert Dominique, from Mashteuiatsh and Réal Tettaut, from Nutashkuan, specified that as of 1er April 2023, regardless of the progress of the file, they will submit the content of this possible treaty to their members.
On the bridge project over the Saguenay in Tadoussac, Mr. Legault said he will wait to see what the level of social acceptability is.
“I have a favorable bias now we will wait to have the result of the study which takes into account the acceptability, especially on the Tadoussac side,” he said.
Mr. Legault completed his eastern tour with a stop in Baie-Comeau.
With François Carabin, Marco Belair-Cirino, Florence Morin-Martel