(Quebec) On the eve of the general elections in the country, the premier of Quebec, François Legault, persists and signs: “What we need is not in Ottawa more civil servants, it is in Quebec, more nurses ”. Another shot fired at Justin Trudeau’s Liberals and their health promises.
François Legault spoke on Sunday to the young people of the Relève caquiste gathered in congress since Saturday in Quebec. In a speech with strong nationalist content, which closed the event, the Prime Minister reaffirmed the importance for Quebec of protecting its jurisdictions, “its powers, its values” and by the same token, he returned to the federal campaign. .
“Our identity as a people will always be fragile. There will always be people to lecture us, to tell us that we do not have the right to impose a common language, to defend Quebec values, that we do not have the right to defend our powers. . And unfortunately, as we have seen in recent weeks with the federal elections, there are even parties that have boasted of intervening in a really important area of jurisdiction, health, ”he said.
Liberal leader Justin Trudeau has made commitments that encroach on provincial jurisdictions: $ 6 billion to accelerate the elimination of waiting lists in health care networks, $ 3 billion to hire 7,500 family physicians and nurse practitioners, $ 6 billion to set national standards in long-term care. New Democrat leader Jagmeet Singh wants to create a federal fund to address the health workforce shortage, especially in CHSLDs.
“What we need is not in Ottawa, more civil servants, it is in Quebec, more nurses. This [dont] our nation needs more autonomy, ”he added, causing thunderous applause.
A statement that revived the words of the Prime Minister, who, 10 days ago, expressed his inclination for the election of a conservative minority government. On Sunday, unlike his previous outings, he did not directly name the Liberal Party, the NDP and the Green Party, not even when answering questions from young activists.
Yes, there are parties in Ottawa that are more centralizing, but at some point if they want the support of Quebecers, they will have to respect the will of the majority of Quebecers and that is why I felt compelled to intervene.
Francois Legault
“We need to defend our Bill 21, we need to defend our values and it is not true that it is in Ottawa that we will decide on Quebec values. Quebec values will be decided here by Quebeckers and I cannot stand idly by when I see federal parties threatening the autonomy of the Quebec nation. I will never, ever apologize for defending our powers, defending our language, defending our values, ”insisted the Prime Minister.
He spoke of “three parties who want to interfere in [les] competences ”of Quebec,“ which do not want to give us more powers in immigration ”and“ which do not exclude challenging Bill 21 ”. He refused to tell Quebeckers how to vote, which he was criticized by the opposition parties in Quebec this week. “I just wanted you to take that into account. And there, it’s up to you to make your choices. I don’t want to start saying who to vote for, ”he told activists.
A “bulwark against the radicals”
Speaking of vaccination, François Legault compared the Coalition Avenir Québec to a “bulwark against radicals” and for the protection of “social cohesion”.
“We must continue to convince the 11% [de la population québécoise] who is not [pleinement] vaccinated. Obviously, we will have to forget the anti, anti-vaccines, but there are some who have concerns and it is important to inform them in the respect, it is not the time in Quebec to divide, it is time to defend our national cohesion ”, he declared.
He said at least 88.5% of Quebecers eligible for vaccination have received at least a first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine. About 83% of the Quebec population received a second dose.
This rampart image, the Legault government will also want to use to illustrate the importance of defending the Quebec nation, the place of French and Law 21 on the secularism of the State, among others, we are told. One year before the provincial elections, François Legault spoke of a “busy year” for the Caquist troops. “We have started to deliver the goods, we will have to continue,” he said.
He will want to bet on the theme of pride, which was also the title of the Congress of the Relève caquiste. In this sense, François Legault underlined two proposals made by young activists: the idea of creating a National Museum of Quebec History and of having in schools a common curriculum of major Quebec literary works. “I asked our Culture and Education ministers to look at this very closely. Our culture is the best legacy we can leave to future generations, ”he said.
In plenary on Saturday, questions related to Quebec culture and identity aroused a lot of enthusiasm from young Caquists. They have adopted proposals calling on the government to teach Quebec culture more in francization courses for immigrants. They also want notions of “Quebec values” to be integrated into the reform of the ethics and religious culture program.
PHOTO FROM THE CAQ TWITTER ACCOUNT
The President of the CAQ Succession Commission, Keven Brasseur
The chairman of the Future Quebec Coalition’s Succession Commission, Keven Brasseur – whose mandate was renewed without opposition on Sunday – maintained on Saturday that the idea was not to politicize the school program. This reform must be carried out by pedagogical experts from the Ministry of Education. He believes, however, that the State Secularism Act should be taught to students.