{"id":877458,"date":"2026-08-30T21:20:18","date_gmt":"2026-08-30T21:20:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/877458\/"},"modified":"2026-08-30T21:20:18","modified_gmt":"2026-08-30T21:20:18","slug":"candidates-talk-affordability-on-day-4-of-quebecs-election-campaign-winnipeg-free-press","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/877458\/","title":{"rendered":"Candidates talk affordability on Day 4 of Quebec\u2019s election campaign \u2013 Winnipeg Free Press"},"content":{"rendered":"

Affordability and the economy took the spotlight on Sunday as Quebec\u2019s election campaign entered its fourth day, with party leaders unveiling their visions to ease financial pressures while grappling with the province\u2019s budgetary constraints.<\/p>\n

The Quebec Liberal Party and Qu\u00e9bec solidaire promised to make housing more affordable, while the Conservatives promised more tax cuts and the Coalition Avenir Qu\u00e9bec released its full fiscal plan. Meanwhile, the Parti Qu\u00e9b\u00e9cois emphasized protecting the French language by proposing stricter immigration policies.<\/p>\n

According to Quebec\u2019s auditor general, the next government will face significant budgetary constraints. A pre-election report published earlier this month highlighted that Quebec\u2019s multi-billion dollar deficit must be eliminated by 2029-2030 under the balanced-budget law, leaving little room for ambitious campaign promises.<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tA voter casts their ballot in the Quebec provincial election, Monday, Oct. 3, 2022 in Montreal. THE CANADIAN PRESS\/Ryan Remiorz<\/p>\n

The Coalition Avenir Qu\u00e9bec called on the other parties Sunday to follow its lead and release their own fiscal blueprints.\u00a0<\/p>\n

According to party leader Christine Fr\u00e9chette and Finance Minister Eric Girard, a third Coalition Avenir Qu\u00e9bec government would spend an additional $9.7 billion over five years to fulfil its promises, including more support for victims of domestic violence.<\/p>\n

Quebec would then need to generate $6 billion in revenue to reach a balanced budget, they said. Fr\u00e9chette said she would not lower taxes until the budget is balanced.<\/p>\n

Fr\u00e9chette\u2019s party is counting on \u201cexpected revenues\u201d from the federal government, without any formal commitment from Ottawa.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re focused on balancing the budget, and we\u2019re also facing an economic and financial climate that\u2019s leading us into rougher waters than usual,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Opponents to the right and left of Fr\u00e9chette\u2019s party accused her of falling into the \u201csame old bureaucratic model\u201d as her predecessor, Fran\u00e7ois Legault, who stepped down as premier in January after the Coalition Avenir Qu\u00e9bec tanked in the polls.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe likes big government,\u201d said Conservative Leader \u00c9ric Duhaime. \u201cShe wants to spend instead of leaving money in taxpayers\u2019 pockets.\u201d<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the parliamentary leader of the leftist party Qu\u00e9bec solidaire, Ruba Ghazal, accused Fr\u00e9chette of being \u201cirresponsible\u201d and implementing \u201causterity\u201d measures.<\/p>\n

Liberal leader Charles Milliard said that it\u2019s too early in the campaign to release a fiscal plan.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Housing affordability was a focal point of Sunday\u2019s campaign announcements, with the Liberals and Qu\u00e9bec solidaire both unveiling plans to address rising costs.<\/p>\n

Milliard focused on making life more affordable for seniors, proposing to cap rents and service fees in privately managed seniors\u2019 homes.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cA senior citizen on public housing assistance should never have to leave their home because of an exorbitant rent increase,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Qu\u00e9bec solidaire promised 50,000 new units of social housing and a rent cap for all tenants, saying rents should not outpace inflation. Ghazal said the average rent prices skyrocketed since the Coalition Avenir Qu\u00e9bec first took power in 2018.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Both Milliard and Ghazal took jabs at Fr\u00e9chette, who claimed on Saturday that the housing crisis has been \u201csolved\u201d in \u201cmany regions\u201d of Quebec with increasing vacancy rates.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust because homes are empty doesn\u2019t mean people can afford them,\u201d Ghazal told reporters on Sunday.<\/p>\n

Duhaime emphasized tackling the cost of living through tax reductions. On Sunday, Duhaime announced that a Conservative government would abolish the sales tax on used goods.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Conservatives have also promised what they describe as \u201ca historic reduction in the tax burden on individuals\u201d and to reduce government spending by $47 billion.<\/p>\n

PQ leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon continued to focus on immigration, linking it to the decline of the French language in Quebec, which prompted renewed criticism from his rivals who accuse him of using immigrants as scapegoats.<\/p>\n

St-Pierre Plamondon told journalists Quebec is facing a \u201clinguistic emergency\u201d and a \u201chistoric decline in the French language,\u201d which he considers to be central to Quebecois identity.<\/p>\n

He proposed expanding French-language laws to junior colleges, limiting access to English-language schools for francophones and immigrants.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The PQ leader also suggested requiring children of temporary migrants to attend French schools and tightening French-language requirements for work permits, with exceptions for the agricultural sector. Additionally, the PQ would prioritize immigrants proficient in French.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe CAQ has undermined control over our immigration system,\u201d said St-Pierre Plamondon. \u201cWe will significantly lower immigration quotas, which \u2026 is also essential if we are to tackle the historic decline in the use of French in Quebec.\u201d<\/p>\n

Immigration has been a central theme of the PQ\u2019s campaign so far, with St-Pierre Plamondon arguing that current immigration levels exceed Quebec\u2019s capacity to provide adequate housing and public services.<\/p>\n

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 30, 2026.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Affordability and the economy took the spotlight on Sunday as Quebec\u2019s election campaign entered its fourth day, with…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":877459,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194296],"tags":[49,48,22073],"class_list":["post-877458","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-winnipeg","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-winnipeg"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/877458","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=877458"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/877458\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/877459"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=877458"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=877458"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=877458"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}