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Affordability Dominates Quebec Parties’ Pitches on Day Four of Election Campaign
🇨🇦 Canada /Elections & Politics

Affordability Dominates Quebec Parties’ Pitches on Day Four of Election Campaign

From Global News · () English

Translated from English and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

News Named sources Ongoing story
  • Quebec party leaders used the fourth day of the campaign to propose measures addressing housing costs, taxes and broader affordability concerns.
  • The Coalition Avenir Québec presented a fiscal plan forecasting $9.7 billion in additional spending over five years and a need to generate $6 billion in revenue to balance the budget.
  • The campaign is unfolding under a legal requirement to eliminate Quebec’s multibillion-dollar deficit by 2029-30, limiting room for costly promises.

Quebec’s election campaign quickly turned into a test of how far parties can go on affordability while the province faces a multibillion-dollar deficit.

The Quebec Liberal Party and Québec solidaire put housing at the center of their Sunday announcements. Liberal Leader Charles Milliard proposed capping rents and service fees in privately managed seniors’ homes, saying a senior receiving public housing assistance should not have to leave because of an excessive rent increase. Québec solidaire promised 50,000 new social-housing units and a rent cap for all tenants, with increases limited so they would not outpace inflation.

Just because homes are empty doesn’t mean people can afford them

— Ruba GhazalQuébec solidaire’s parliamentary leader criticized the claim that higher vacancy rates had solved the housing crisis.

Both parties criticized Coalition Avenir Québec Leader Christine Fréchette after she said on Saturday that the housing crisis had been “solved” in many parts of the province because vacancy rates were rising. “Just because homes are empty doesn’t mean people can afford them,” Québec solidaire parliamentary leader Ruba Ghazal told reporters.

We’re focused on balancing the budget, and we’re also facing an economic and financial climate that’s leading us into rougher waters than usual

— Christine FréchetteThe Coalition Avenir Québec leader defended her party’s fiscal approach during the campaign.

The Conservatives focused on tax cuts, while the Parti Québécois emphasized protection of the French language through stricter immigration policies. The Coalition Avenir Québec released its full fiscal plan and challenged other parties to publish their own. Fréchette and Finance Minister Eric Girard said a third CAQ government would spend an additional $9.7 billion over five years to meet its promises, many of which had not yet been announced, and would need to raise $6 billion in revenue to balance the budget.

Fréchette said she would not cut taxes before the budget is balanced. Her party is counting on expected federal revenues without a formal commitment from Ottawa. “We’re focused on balancing the budget, and we’re also facing an economic and financial climate that’s leading us into rougher waters than usual,” she said.

A senior citizen on public housing assistance should never have to leave their home because of an exorbitant rent increase

— Charles MilliardThe Quebec Liberal leader outlined a proposal to cap rents and service fees in privately managed seniors’ homes.
About this summary

Originally published by Global News in English. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

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