With polls suggesting his Liberals trailing François Legault's Coalition Avenir Québec with less than three months to go before election day, Premier Philippe Couillard stubbornly defended his government's record — even though he acknowledged that more needs to be done.
"You never achieve in life everything you want to achieve, but the important [thing] is, are we better off than we were? Definitely," Couillard told CJAD 800's Aaron Rand in an extensive interview on Monday (which you can hear in full below). "Quebec is better off than it was even four years ago. No doubt about it. Quebec is definitely going in the right direction."
Couillard suggests the province is facing two major economic challenges going forward — a chronic labor shortage, which contrasts with job shortages in the past, and changes to the trade relationship with the United States under president Donald Trump.
During his first term, Couillard faced criticism over the austerity measures imposed at the beginning of his term. Now, despite unemployment being at record lows, he suggests his government's accomplishments on the economic front might not be resonating with voters.
"I think we'll have to repeat it. People are overwhelmed with information, so we'll have to repeat, and repeat, and repeat again," Couillard says. Quebec has never been in such a better place than it is today. Financially, economically, even with public services, although we have lots of progress to do. We've improved in virtually every sector, particularly with our public finances. Who would have said that today, Quebec would borrow on markets at a better rate than Ontario? Nobody listening now has ever seen this before."
The Couillard government's signature promise during the 2014 election campaign was to fix the province's health care system. And while Couillard acknowledges things aren't perfect, there have been significant improvements over the last four years.
"We are far from where we would like to go, but there isn't a single area of it that hasn't been showing improvement. One million more people have access to family doctors now. Who would have thought this possible three or four years ago? No one. Wait times in emergency rooms are still too long, but they're going down. Wait times for surgery going down. New clinics opened seven days a week, 12 hours a day, 46 of them now, showing an impact in emergency rooms. Is it perfect? No, but we've shown our capacity to do it."
Meanwhile, Couillard also suggests Quebec remains a welcoming destination for newcomers, Quebec is limited in how many newcomers can actually come in without stretching the province's services.
"We are stretching our means almost to the limit. Last year, when we had 25,000 people coming in in an irregular way through our border, it's like opening five new schools. We cannot do this year after year after year. The good news is, the numbers are going down quite significantly. We have to respect our responsibilities, but we also have to be strict and straightforward in what we can do and what we cannot do."
He also dismissed Legault's plans for fewer immigrants as "a mistake", and referred to Legault's proposed "values test" as "a horror" which is as bad as the Parti Québécois' proposed Charter of Values.
Couillard says he doesn't believe he has taken anglos for granted, but acknowledged that was the perception.
'I'm really sorry they did feel that way, but that was never the came, not with me, nor with my team." Couillard says. "One we recognized the fact that the distance was increasing between us and English-speaking Quebecers...we decided to act. Not only appointing a minister, or creating a secretariat, but putting money where [our mouths are]. Putting means to tell young English-speaking Quebecers, 'you must stay. We need you and you're most desired here."
Earlier this year, François Legault suggested he was no longer a separatist, and that anglos didn't have anything to fear by voting for the CAQ. But Couillard remains skeptical.
"If you talk about M. Legault...you say the election is not going to be about separation, but I'd like to know how he feels about Canada," he says. "I don't think he's deeply attached to the country. He tolerates it."