People won't move to region if there are no services, says GND

Photo: Jacques Boissinot The Canadian Press Mr. Nadeau-Dubois is promoting “territorial equity,” meaning that people should be entitled to the same level of services throughout the territory.

Patrice Bergeron – The Canadian Press in Quebec City

Published and updated on September 27

• Quebec City

François Legault can encourage Quebecers to move to the regions, but they won't follow if there are no quality services, denounced Québec solidaire (QS).

The left-wing party thus responded on Friday to the Prime Minister's statements the day before at the Fédération québécoise des municipalités (FQM) convention in the capital.

It will be necessary to “convince people to move to the regions” to fill paying jobs while avoiding “fly in fly out”, that is to say, commuting, he had argued.

“The truth is that if we don't offer good public services in the regions, we can make all the sales pitches we want, people won't want to move to the regions,” replied the co-spokesperson of QS, Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois, on the FQM platform Friday morning.

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“To attract people, we must guarantee good public services throughout Quebec,” he continued, deploring the fact that citizens in the regions do not have access to the same quality services as in the large centres.

Mr. Nadeau-Dubois therefore promoted the “territorial equity” contained in the Saguenay Declaration adopted by his party.

According to this principle, people must have the right to the same level of services throughout the territory.

PLQ

Liberal leader Marc Tanguay, who succeeded him at the podium, was the only one of the three opposition party leaders to receive sustained applause from the audience during his speech.

To achieve this, he targeted specific irritants, bones of contention with the government that municipal elected officials want to resolve.

Among other things, that the government pay the entirety of the municipal taxes on its buildings, rather than granting a payment in lieu of taxes.

Also, he denounced the obligation that municipalities have to cede land for the construction of schools.

Mr. Tanguay also denounced the fact that the government is implementing new road safety measures, such as speed bumps, but without assuming the cost, since the municipalities have to pay for them.

A slight departure from usual practice: he took off his hat as leader of the official opposition to instead take on his role as interim leader of the Liberal Party, in order to invite elected officials to follow the leadership race currently underway in his party.

“I will not be in front of you next year,” he reminded us, since the election of the new leader will take place in June.

“We will come to you with a whole political program” in view of the 2026 election, he promised.

PQ

For his part, PQ leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon deplored the lack of support provided by the government to municipalities during “extreme climate events.”

According to him, the “programs are not flexible enough,” particularly during floods.