Trudeau goes on the offensive, O’Toole tries to reassure

Six days before the federal election, the polls remain tight between Conservatives and Liberals while the Bloc seems to be benefiting from a slight upturn in voting intentions. Justin trudeau took the opportunity to launch a call for strategic voting by Quebecers, whileErin O’Toole has been cooked again on its daycare program that would undo the $ 6 billion transfer to Quebec.

In a letter to the Prime Minister Francois Legault, the Conservative leader promised Tuesday to reach an agreement to fund early childhood centers (CPE) if he forms a government. Asked by journalists, however, he did not want to say whether Quebec would ultimately obtain the same amount of six billion that the Trudeau government was prepared to pay before the start of the electoral campaign.

“I have a budget in our quantified platform, because I will always work in close collaboration with Prime Minister Legault,” he replied. On three occasions, Mr. O’Toole refused to indicate exactly how much he would be prepared to pay to Quebec.

In its financial framework, the Conservative Party is allocating an envelope of $ 9.7 billion for the fiscal stabilization program and the provincial agreements. However, according to his electoral platform, this money was more intended to retroactively compensate oil-producing provinces such as Alberta, Saskatchewan and Newfoundland and Labrador, for the loss of income from their natural resources.

The Conservatives assure that this envelope would also be used to compensate Quebec, without being able to indicate how it would be distributed among all these provinces or whether the five other governments that had signed an agreement for childcare services with Justin Trudeau would also get their share of the pie. .

I will always work closely with Prime Minister Legault

Unlike the Liberals’ national child care program, Erin O’Toole is instead promising a refundable tax credit for child care expenses of up to 75% for low-income families.

“Mr. O’Toole is making the wrong choices and now he is trying to change his platform, again, because we took him [à] fight for things that are not the priorities of Canadians, of Quebeckers, ”denounced Justin Trudeau.

“It seems that the positions of the conservatives are moving according to the polls,” said in turn the leader of the Bloc Quebecois, Yves-Francois Blanchet, who sees nothing new in the letter sent to Mr. Legault.

The NDP leader, Jagmeet Singh, indicated that he would maintain the agreements with the provinces if he formed a government.

Shoulder to shoulder

The narrow gap between the Conservatives and the Liberals has narrowed, according to a Leger-The Canadian Press poll released Tuesday. The two parties are now tied across the country with 32% support each among voters already decided. the New Democratic Party (NPD) harvest, meanwhile, 20% of voting intentions. In Quebec, the Bloc Québécois is experiencing a slight upturn with 30% support. This survey was conducted online among 2001 Canadians between September 10 and 13. There is no margin for error.

While in Richmond, British Columbia, Mr. Trudeau appeared with the former leader of the Green Party of British Columbia, Andrew Weaver. The climate scientist, who teaches at the University of Victoria and is the only green to have led a (coalition) government in the country, defended the Liberals’ pledges to fight climate change. “I have never seen a plan as comprehensive and science-backed as this one,” he said.

Justin Trudeau then took the opportunity to launch a call for strategic voting. “We know very well that the threat for Quebeckers, for Canadians, is real that a Conservative government decides to take us back on the climate, on firearms, on day care centers, on health,” a- he said.

“If Quebecers are concerned – as I know they are – by Mr. O’Toole and his plan to bring us back, it is not the Bloc that can prevent a Conservative government,” he said. he adds.

With Marie Vastel

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