Don’t fear a referendum, PQ leader says in final debate of election campaign

Parti Québecois Leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon urged Quebecers not to be afraid of a referendum, as the five main party leaders clashed Wednesday on sovereignty, finances and the cost of living in the third and final leaders’ debate of the provincial election campaign.

The moderator, Radio-Canada journalist Patrice Roy, asked the Parti Québécois leader whether he would rethink a promise to hold a sovereignty vote in the next four years if public sentiment remains against it.

St-Pierre Plamondon reiterated his promise to hold the vote in a first PQ term, after U.S. President Donald Trump leaves office.

“It’s (former Quebec premier) Jacques Parizeau who said this, but don’t be afraid of your democracy, don’t be afraid of going to the polls, don’t be afraid to think about our future,” St-Paul Plamondon said. “I think these are fundamental messages, the liberty of a people and democracy.”

Conservative Leader Éric Duhaime, who has promised to try to block a sovereignty vote if he’s elected, said St-Pierre Plamondon should listen to the 70 per cent of Quebecers who don’t want a referendum.

Liberal Leader Charles Milliard painted himself as the lone federalist on the stage, noting that Duhaime and Coalition Avenir Leader Christine Fréchette voted yes to leaving Canada in the 1995 referendum, and that Québec solidaire is also a sovereigntist party.

Québec solidaire co-spokesperson Ruba Ghazal said she is in favour of Quebec independence, but promised to build a consensus that includes Indigenous people, immigrants and anglophones.

“For me, it’s a fundamentally democratic project, Quebec independence,” she said.

Fréchette fended off criticism about her party’s management of health care services in the opening minutes, as she was challenged by Milliard and St-Pierre Plamondon for what they described as her party’s broken promises over its last eight years in government.

Milliard said Quebecers had been betrayed by the Coalition Avenir Québec’s promises to reduce emergency room wait times and ensure every Quebecer had a doctor. St-Pierre Plamondon agreed, saying the latter promise was “disrespectful of people’s intelligence.”

Fréchette acknowledged there was a lot of work to do but said her party had made improvements, including increasing the number of surgeries performed and signing up hundreds of thousands of Quebecers for groups of family doctors.

In a segment on the province’s finances, St-Pierre Plamondon was challenged on his promise to cut spending on public sector salaries by 2.5 per cent over three years, or by $1.6 billion per year.

“Who are these people … who will lose their jobs on Oct. 6?” Milliard asked him.

St-Pierre Plamondon, in response, said his party would not cut any jobs that provide services, but would attack what he called the “explosion” of the size of bureaucracy under the Coalition Avenir Québec.