PQ, Liberals spar over economic records, ADQ wants better schools
Last Updated: Tuesday, November 11, 2008 | 6:49 PM ET
The Canadian Press
PQ Leader Pauline Marois greets veterans as she attends a Remembrance Day ceremony at the Notre-Dame-des-Neiges cemetery in Montreal. (Ryan Remiorz/Canadian Press)The leaders of the Quebec Liberal party and the Parti Québécois gave each other failing grades as economic managers Tuesday as the head of the Action Démocratique du Québec insisted it's time to bring back traditional values of hard work in provincial schools.
The party leaders took time out from their sniping to attend Remembrance Day ceremonies but quickly resumed their salvos after paying tribute to Canada's fallen soldiers.
Liberal Leader Jean Charest laced into Pauline Marois, calling the PQ leader the "champion in every category of bad management."
Quebec Liberal Leader Jean Charest, left, says goodbye to Second World War veteran, former National Defence Minister and former mayor of Quebec City Gilles Lamontagne after a Remembrance Day ceremony in Quebec City. (Jacques Boissinot/Canadian Press)The premier told a junior chamber of commerce meeting in Quebec City he would not want to see the province relive the "sorry record" created by Marois when she was a cabinet minister in various PQ governments.
He pointed out that she was a key minister in governments that cut pay for the public sector, raised the sales tax and offered early retirement to thousands of doctors and nurses, whose absence is keenly felt in the province's health-care system.
Charest also promised to help fund a new stadium for Quebec City and enlarge its Samuel-De Champlain promenade.
Liberals delivered a 'comedy of errors,' says PQ
In Montreal, Marois described the Liberal government as "amateurish" and a "comedy of errors."
She said Charest's team is incapable of managing large projects such as the building of superhospitals in Montreal and making improvements to one of the province's major universities.
"The management of the [superhospital] is pathetic," Marois said.
The PQ leader rattled off a litany of criticisms charging the Liberals with a legacy of incompetence, cost overruns and broken promises.
PQ Leader Pauline Marois, left, shakes hands with ADQ Leader Mario Dumont, right, as PQ candidate Fatima Houda-Pepin looks on at a Remembrance Day ceremony in Montreal. (Ryan Remiorz/Canadian Press)Asked how her government would pay for the millions in spending commitments announced so far, Marois said the PQ "would not compromise" organizations or spending in general.
She said there would be a review of programs to determine which ones are functioning efficiently.
Although she is prepared for a provincial deficit if the global credit crisis continues, Marois said she is aiming to bring in balanced budgets.
ADQ Leader Mario Dumont, meanwhile, promised a return to old-fashioned education values, and said the reform of Quebec's school system has been a failure.
Campaigning in St-Hyacinthe, Dumont proposed that school boards be decentralized, report cards be revamped and standardized provincial tests and special education classes be restored. He also wants to see school spirit fostered.
Dumont said he would prefer to see students wearing school colours instead of gang insignias.
Tuesday also saw the publication of one of the first opinion polls of the campaign.
The Léger Marketing survey pegged Liberal support at 41 per cent, compared with 35 per cent for the PQ and 14 per cent for the ADQ.
The poll, conducted between Nov. 7 and 9 of 1,001 Quebecers has a margin of error of 3.4 percentage points, 19 times out of 20, meaning the Liberals and the PQ were statistically tied.
