(Quebec) For the second time since his re-election four months ago, Premier François Legault says he is looking for ways to mobilize Quebecers in order to increase his balance of power with Ottawa. He mentions the holding of a special commission on the “fiscal imbalance”, although federalism remains “advantageous” financially for Quebec according to him.
The day after his victory, on October 4, François Legault expressed his intention to “promote” his demand for Ottawa to obtain more powers in immigration matters and “stop the decline of French” by mobilizing Quebecers around this stakes. He did not rule out any scenario such as holding the Estates General or a Bélanger-Campeau style commission. In the election campaign, he did not rule out a sectoral referendum.
On Tuesday, Mr. Legault said he was thinking about ways to bend Ottawa, this time about health care funding. Here again, he mentioned the holding of a special commission, recalling the Séguin commission on the fiscal imbalance of the early 2000s. He did not rule out the use of a sectoral referendum even if his government “is not there” for now.
Francois Legault and the other provincial premiers accepted Ottawa’s “insufficient” offer of $46.2 billion over ten years – one-sixth of their demand. Quebec will receive about nine billion over the next decade. Accused by the opposition of being resigned, Mr. Legault replied that the issue of financing health care is not settled and that he wants to continue to demand more money.
“It doesn’t make sense,” he says, that the federal government collects nearly half of the taxes paid by Quebecers and only finances about a quarter of health care spending. He sees it as a “structural problem”. And to settle it one day, it will be necessary to mobilize Quebecers, he explained during a press briefing on Tuesday.
“We clearly see that there is a fiscal imbalance. We have to find a way to raise public awareness to put political pressure on the federal government,” he said.
In the polls, “the population says that health is a priority. But how can we accept that we send almost half of our taxes to Ottawa but that it only finances a quarter of health care? There is a problem “. According to him, “we will have to look at how we make it a priority”.
Like other prime ministers, François Legault has led a campaign since 2020 to convince Ottawa to increase health transfers by $28 billion a year. If he did not win his case, it was because Justin Trudeau “took advantage of the complexity” of the file, according to him. “Listen, a billion, 10 billion, 100 billion, 200 billion… The waltz of the billions, it’s complicated to explain. Without concluding that the Council of the Federation is a failure, he maintains that the premiers have observed that “there is no such pressure” on Ottawa.
Last week, he called on Quebecers to remember the Trudeau government’s insufficient offer in the next federal election.
“We will have to look at how we make it a priority. Of course, let’s remember the last federal election. During the election, I said that Mr. Trudeau was not open to increasing health transfers or giving us more powers in immigration. Despite this, he went to get around thirty deputies. There is work to be done,” he acknowledged.
Including the issue of health transfers among the priorities of the next election will be “a big challenge”. Ditto for immigration and French issues, he said, reiterating that his government will have to make efforts to mobilize Quebecers.
If he deplores the existence of fiscal imbalance, François Legault reiterates that federalism “is advantageous for the moment” from a financial point of view. ” We receive [du fédéral] 10 billion more than what we send”, he pleaded, shooting an arrow in the direction of the PQ leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon who, according to him, will have difficulty “plugging this hole” in his budget. a sovereign Quebec that will soon be tabled. He “finds it short” to propose a sovereignty referendum to settle differences with Ottawa.
For the interim leader of the Liberal Party of Quebec, Marc Tanguay, François Legault has shown “resignation” in the file of health transfers.
The Prime Minister has cashed “a failure that digs a hole of five billion dollars in the Quebec budget”, commented for his part the co-spokesperson of Quebec solidaire, Manon Massé.
The leader of the Parti Québécois, Paul St-Pierre Plamondon, also considers that François Legault lacks fighting spirit against Ottawa. “All he offers us is a few days where he is angry and then tries to bury these questions as if they had not happened,” he said, adding that this episode shows that the Council of the Federation is ineffective.