A fired-up Philippe Couillard addressed an adoring crowd of 400 Liberal supporters Wednesday in Thetford Mines, in a speech that promised a Liberal majority and continued to take aim at the Parti Quebecois.
“We’re in the hole for $3 billion, we've lost tens of thousands of jobs, we’ve watched as health care was cut – in Roberval a youth centre was shut down – why? There’s no revenue coming in because we’re losing jobs. It’s clear that the PQ's priority is a referendum,” he said.
Couillard also made reference to a recent article in the La Presse newspaper suggesting that the PQ had planned the Values Charter to fail in the hopes that the ensuing quarrel with the federal government would encourage support for sovereignty.
“That’s what feeds cynicism in the population and that’s why the PQ will be sanctioned by the public. We can’t have a party manipulate the public on such a serious issue. Quebecers will remember and say, ‘that’s enough we don’t want any more of that, we’ll put another government in.’”
He also passionately criticized the PQ for the apparent confusion on how they would deal with government employees who lose their jobs as a result of Bill 60, known as the Charter of Values. Earlier Wednesday Pauline Marois said that her government would help workers fired under Bill 60 find jobs in the public sector.
“Once here with us," Couillard said, referring to immigrants and minorities, "they become first class Quebecers and we won’t let discrimination come to Quebec. We won’t allow it.”
Couillard also praised Canada effusively, a tack many past Liberal leaders have been less reluctant to take.
But perhaps the biggest revelation of the evening was the loud cheer that erupted from one of his promises concerning education.
“We’ll teach our kids English in school in sixth grade so they can live in the world of the 21st century,” he said, a declaration that attracted one of the largest cheers of the evening.
The riding of Lotbinière-Frontenac is a Liberal riding won by Laurent Lessard in the 2012 election. Couillard praised Lessard, who stood at his side, vowing that veteran MNA would play an important role in his government.
The area has seen an economic decline since the decline of asbestos. Couillard promised that he would, "help the area transition into a better future."
While campaigning earlier Wednesday Couillard defended La Piniere candidate Gaetan Barrette who received a $1.2 million departure bonus from the Quebec Federation of Medical Specialists, which lead some to ask whether Barrette - a potential future health minister - might be in conflict of interest dealing with that group in the future.
