(Joliette) PQ leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon did not break a promise by backing down on his plan to publish a year 1 budget during the election campaign: it was in fact only an answer given to a journalist, he explained.
Posted at 11:16 a.m.
“It’s not a promise, it’s an answer I gave during an interview at the editorial table of the To have to “, he explained during a scrum in Joliette.
On Saturday, Mr. St-Pierre Plamondon’s campaign team informed reporters that the Parti Québécois would not present a Year 1 budget to the media by October 3, since the party does not have the resources to update it with new inflation-related financial data.
At the start of the election campaign, Mr. St-Pierre Plamondon had nevertheless stated at the editorial table of the To have to that it would be published before the first leaders’ debate, even though he knew very well that inflation had had a major impact on public finances. And this is the second time that he has pushed back the publication of this study. He had said in May to The Press that it would be broadcast before the national holiday, June 24.
How does he explain this reversal? “I was confident at the time that we could make the adjustments,” he explained. “An opposition party does not have the means of the government to do work […] I was confident that we would manage to adjust the calculations. But the more we adjust them by trying to skip steps to make up for time, the more we run the risk of the work not being done with the required rigor,” said the PQ leader. When a reporter asked him if he avoided disclosing this document before the leaders’ debates to escape criticism, he replied that it was “a trial of intent that is not based on what happened. »
When does he now expect to release his Year 1 budget, which was ready three months ago? “We will aim for the end of the year,” he said.