|
Analysis: Quebec parties in prep mode as election call nears
Montreal Gazette | August 13, 2022
With political parties putting their candidates in place and their first promises being made, Quebecers will be returning from summer holidays just in time for the provincial election campaign.
Officially, voting day will be Monday, Oct. 3, which is four years since the 2018 general election, in which the Coalition Avenir Québec and leader François Legault were swept into power, replacing Philippe Couillard’s Liberals.
It will be a short campaign — about five weeks. Under Quebec’s fixed-date electoral law, the campaign can be as brief as 33 days or as long as 36, depending on when it is launched, which gives Legault a certain wiggle room but not much.
The last possible date he can have the lieutenant-governor sign the electoral writ for a vote on Oct. 3 is Aug. 29, which is a Monday. Sources this week said the government is considering a Sunday, Aug. 28 launch, but the exact date has not been announced.
Inflation sends Quebec government revenue soaring as CAQ promises income tax cuts
CTV News | August 15, 2022
While inflation may be hurting ordinary Quebecers' pocketbooks, it's done the opposite for a provincial government that has seen its projected deficit shrink by billions of dollars, according to a report released Monday ahead of the fall election campaign.
The government's projected finances are "plausible" despite global economic uncertainty that threatens to darken the rosy picture, said auditor general Guylaine Leclerc, who was tasked with reviewing a pre-election financial report by Quebec's finance minister.
Inflation, Leclerc said, "has a lot to do" with filling the government coffers, thanks to increased tax revenue from salaries and sales tax.
"At the level of the (fiscal) year 2022-23, at the accounting level, we forecast a surplus," she told a Quebec City news conference.
Staff shortages in CEGEPs affecting courses and services
Montreal Gazette | August 15, 2022
Some services are being cut at CEGEPs and students are the ones being penalized.
Some CEGEPs in the province will be forced to cut back on courses and even on some services because of a lack personnel in the post-secondary institutions, a union representing workers at the college level says.
The Centrale des syndicats du Québec and other affiliated unions are asking the province to improve working conditions at the college level to allow institutions to better recruit staff and keep those already in place.
“When we spoke about the shortage of professional personnel, as well as support staff, (Higher Education Minister) Danielle McCann said she was not aware of the situation, so when we speak about staff shortages, we don’t want the CEGEP system, which is important in Quebec, to be left by the wayside,” CSQ president Éric Gingras said during a press conference Monday.
Quebec allows copper smelter in northwest to emit arsenic levels 5 times provincial norm
Global News | August 15, 2022
A copper smelter in northwest Quebec will be permitted to release 15 nanograms of arsenic per cubic metre of air — five times the provincial norm — Quebec’s environment minister said Monday.
The factory in Rouyn-Noranda, Que., which has been in operation since 1927 and employs around 650 people, has been a cause for serious concern in the region after studies have shown that residents of the city have higher rates of lung cancer than the provincial average. Owned by Switzerland-based Glencore, the smelter is currently allowed to emit 100 nanograms of arsenic per cubic metre of air — 33 times the provincewide standard.
Environment Minister Benoit Charette travelled to the town Monday and said the 15-nanogram cap recommended last week by public health would be the new goal the company must reach within five years.
“We are turning the page on a certain era today,” Charette told reporters.
|
