\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
![\"Coalition](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/6a9c505eb5660c54080319ecjpeg.jpg\")
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCoalition Avenir Qu\u00e9bec Leader Christine Frechette arrives for a daycare announcement alongside candidate Mario Laframboise, right, during an election campaign stop in Lorraine, Que., on Saturday, Sept. 5, 2026. Quebec votes in a provincial election on Oct. 5, 2026. THE CANADIAN PRESS\/Graham Hughes<\/p>\n
\u201cYesterday, he gathered his supporters. Not once did he use the word referendum,\u201d she said. \u201cThat\u2019s hiding things from Quebecers.\u201d<\/p>\n
Fr\u00e9chette also argued this is the worst time to hold a rerendum, pointing to the trade conflict with the United States, and she also accused her rivals of not talking enough about U.S. President Donald Trump\u2019s tariffs.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re in an economic war with our main trading partner, and for the other parties, it\u2019s as though it were a minor news story,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
However, St-Pierre Plamondon rejected Fr\u00e9chette\u2019s accusation he was avoiding referendum talk, saying he uses \u201cpopular consultation\u201d and \u201creferendum\u201d interchangeably.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve used the word at times. I use popular consultation, referendum,\u201d he told reporters in Quebec City. \u201cPopular consultation and referendum mean exactly the same thing.\u201d<\/p>\n
Fr\u00e9chette on Saturday also pledged 25,000 additional reduced-fee daycare spaces at a cost of $750 million over four years. But only 5,000 would be entirely new spaces.<\/p>\n
Of the 25,000, 15,000 were part of previous commitments, while another 5,000 would come from converting existing unsubsidized spaces into subsidized ones.<\/p>\n
The CAQ would also offer newly qualified daycare workers a $10,000 bonus if they commit to working for at least two years in a subsidized daycare or early childhood centre.<\/p>\n
Liberal Leader Charles Milliard accused Fr\u00e9chette of playing with the numbers during a campaign stop in L\u00e9vis, across the St. Lawrence River from Quebec City.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThis isn\u2019t 25,000 new spaces being announced this morning. It\u2019s a maximum of 5,000 spaces,\u201d he told reporters.<\/p>\n
The Parti Qu\u00e9b\u00e9cois, meanwhile, proposed a series of measures aimed at accountability at the highest levels of government, including freezing the salaries of legislature members, cabinet ministers and heads of Crown corporations until Quebec returns to a balanced budget, which the party expects in 2028-29.<\/p>\n
The PQ would also require candidates selected to lead Crown corporations to appear before a legislative committee, set performance targets for their CEOs and review executive bonuses.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe can\u2019t ask the public and broader public sectors to go on a certain diet while we don\u2019t set an example ourselves,\u201d St-Pierre Plamondon said.<\/p>\n
At a campaign stop in Chicoutimi, about 200 kilometres north of Quebec City, Qu\u00e9bec solidaire co-spokesperson Ruba Ghazal proposed 400 primary-care access points inspired by Quebec\u2019s CLSC community health centre model, at an estimated cost of $1.8 billion a year.<\/p>\n
The party would open 200 during a first mandate and another 200 during a second. Ghazal said the centres would make it easier for Quebecers to enter the health system and help relieve pressure on emergency rooms.<\/p>\n
Conservative Leader \u00c9ric Duhaime, meanwhile, unveiled his party\u2019s digital plan in Inverness, about 100 kilometres southwest of Quebec City, aimed at making nearly all Quebec government services available online.<\/p>\n
His party says the plan would save $3.45 billion in administrative costs over five years. It also calls for reducing regulatory requirements by 30 per cent over four years and using artificial intelligence in government operations with human oversight.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Quebec government has to enter the 21st century, and quickly,\u201d Duhaime said.<\/p>\n
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 5, 2026.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MONTREAL \u2013 With one month to go before Quebec\u2019s provincial election, parties on Saturday pitched voters on health…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":197652,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[84],"class_list":["post-197651","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-winnipeg","tag-winnipeg"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/197651","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=197651"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/197651\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/197652"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=197651"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=197651"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=197651"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}