Pauline Marois has pledged to lower taxes, in an important policy announcement made just three full days before Monday’s vote.
The PQ, vowed Marois, would lower taxes, she announced at a business dinner with the Montreal Chamber of Commerce, attended by about 350.
The promise came when she answered a question by the group’s chief Michel Leblanc.
“It is clear that we want to lower corporate taxes. I know that the main concern of businesses is the payroll tax because it is a disincentive to increase jobs,” she said.
She harped on the same theme in a press conference following the event.
“The middle class is heavily taxed, as we know, we would be able to ease its burden,” she said.
When asked why she hadn’t revealed the policy earlier in the campaign, she replied, “The Chamber of Commerce asked me. Not many people asked me that question before,” she said.
The catch is that the province would have to have a balanced budget first, she noted, something her party has promised will happen by next April.
Her main rival, Liberal leader Philippe Couillard met the announcement with derision Thursday.
“She said that she didn’t speak about this before because nobody asked her. She said that she’ll lower taxes after she balances the budget. Does anybody here believe her?” he asked a room of supporters, who cried out “no” in unison.
Jean-Francois Lisee minister responsible for Montreal told CTV Montreal at the afternoon event that the PQ is able to attract business, regardless of its political debates because of the province's reputation for safety.
“Mass shootings is not something that happens a lot in Quebec,” said Lisee. “In the United States yesterday there was another mass shooting. If you wanted to bring a number of managers and workers in a place where there's no crime, a good quality of life, Montreal stands out.”
Marois also promised to accelerate the completion of the stalled Dorval Interchange, which she vowed would be done in 2017 rather than 2019.
She also said that her party would take measures to increase the portion of immigrants who settle outside of the big cities from 20 to 25 percent. “We bring them here and they’re happy but they don’t have jobs. That makes no sense in a society like ours,” she said.
Marois spent part of the day campaigning in Argenteuil, a riding that her candidate Roland Richer won from the Liberals for the first time since 1966. She also visited Blainville and Groulx, a riding the PQ hopes to retake from the CAQ. On Friday she plans to blitz six other ridings from Laval to Sherbrooke.
-With a file from The Canadian Press
