I have decided to get informed before this year’s election, and will be posting my notes and impressions of the platforms our provincial parties have made public on their sites. I will try to reserve my comparisons and final conclusions until I have read all the platforms. So no conclusions today.
The first platform I am reading is the Parti Quebecois‘.
In predictable adversarial style, the first point the PQ makes is that Charest broke his unspecified promises in 2003, and bill 101 is their first example of a great accomplishment.
The PQ tries to inspire us by rallying us to the prospect of freedom to choose our own positions, and defend them at an international level, but there is little precision about what those positions actually are, only perhaps what we will get from the platform.
The word “referendum” has become “consultation populaire”, but the idea is still at the forefront, and an exciting segue to culture as priority. Most others measures cited prepare for the transition of Quebec to independent country.
Beyond sovereignty, the platform is built around 7 pillars:
Education – includes the preservation of 7$ day-care, and maintains the tuition freeze, but favors “technological reorientation” in rural regions.
Environment – centered around a reduction in our dependance on petroleum, grants tax credits for transit passes and eliminates PST for hybrid or electrical cars, and indicates willingness to develop a comprehensive ” green” transportation plan. Shows little commitment to transit over personal cars (which use more land and energy any way you slice it), and absolutely no understanding of the interplay between transportation and urban form.
Economy – after explaining that quebec’s future in the knowledge economy is served by their commitment to education, the platform calls for an abolition of capital gains taxes, push for the development of the manufacturing sector, and promises to reduce taxes when if their is a sharp economic increase, and when their is a surplus. So cut the taxes for the wealthy if they spend more?
Health – will increase the number of “groupe de medecine familiale” to 300. For a population of 6 million, that’s 20,000 patients per group. At 300 working days a year that’s roughly 66 patients a day at one visit per year. At 20 minutes per appointment, and a workday of 7 hours (plus a half hour for emergencies and drop-ins), that’s 3 doctors minimum per group, 1 drop-in patient per day. Hmm…
Regions – this part is vague, seems to encourage agriculture and the forestry industry, but I can get behind greater power for central-cities.
Solidarity – More than just a title, ” les quebecoises et l’action communautaire” equates women to “community groups” and “the social economy”. While it may be true that more women are active in the community sector, the implication that promoting the status of women goes through the promotion of community services. Next they’ll tell us that promoting gender equality means recognising a woman’s important place in the home. [I wonder whether they were planning a "gay men and AIDS" section in the health priorities.] Is the government going to increase pension support for nurses and teachers too, but not bankers or lawyers? Gender equality involves women in every sector of the economy. How about government, and a commitment to running female candidates?
Good government – I am increasingly skeptical about claims that publicly approved boards and directors are really more accountable, particularly when there is no commitment to transparency.
