With less than one month to go before the provincial election, THE EQUITY will reach out to each party campaigning in Pontiac to hear what they have to say about important issues.

Each week THE EQUITY will cover a different issue and hopes that each candidate will contribute.

This week, candidates gave their position on inflation and the dramatic increase in the cost of living. They also discussed proposed policy solutions.

Causes of inflation

Starting with the causes of inflation, the candidates provided different perspectives.

“There’s a number of different causes of inflation right now,” said incumbent MNA and Liberal Party of Quebec (LPQ) candidate André Fortin. “The world economy is one, the shortage of the labour in our region and across the supply chain is another one.”

Fortin also said the CAQ government wasn’t prepared for the crisis.

“Part of the government’s job is to anticipate these things and forecast properly to know what will affect the economy going forward, ‘’ he said. “And it’s unfortunate that we didn’t prepare properly as a province.”

Québec solidaire (QS) candidate Mike Owen Sebagenzi focused more on global issues contributing to the increase in the cost of living. “The cause of the crisis is due to multiple factors like the aftermath of the covid pandemic and the restart of the economy. There is also the war in Ukraine that has impacted change of provisions which has reduced the amount of produce, which increases food prices and therefore inflation.”

The Canadian Party of Quebec (CaPQ) candidate Will Twolan echoed these sentiments on Ukraine and covid, adding that he believed the impact of China’s zero-tolerance covid policy on global manufacturing and pent-up consumer demand for goods and services as the global economy began opening up after covid restrictions lifted also played a role.

The Green Party of Quebec’s (GPQ) candidate Pierre Cyr focused more on systemic causes of the problem.

“Inflation is mainly a direct negative effect of the limits of capitalist society,’’ wrote Cyr. “Unfortunately globalization is creating more and more negative impacts on product shortages. We are more exposed to outside events or threats that jeopardize our supplies of goods in Quebec or Canada.”

He also blamed profiteering on the rise in prices for certain goods and services.

“A very large portion of these big corporations made a lot more profit last year than they did over the last five year. I believe these big corporations took advantage of the crisis to increase their prices for no valid reasons simply to better perform for their stockholders.”

General proposals

The candidates also presented a variety of differing proposals in order to tackle the cost of living increases.

CAQ candidate Corinne Canuel-Jolicoeur said that the ruling party’s priority has been to allocate money directly to Quebecers and allow them to determine how they want to spend as a part of their four part shield against inflation plan.

“The first part is the diminishing of income taxes. For the first two levels of income taxes, a decrease of 1 per cent would start in 2023,’’ said Canuel-Jolicoeur. “[This would be followed by a decrease in income taxes of 2.5%] over 10 years, which would be the most significant income tax decrease in Quebec’s history. The second part is Quebecers will receive between $400 and $600 depending on their income. Third is an amount for seniors with lower income which can reach up to $2000 a year. Fourth is a cap of governmental fees at 3 per cent. We have to make sure that all the services that are under the control of the government are not following the trends and going really high with the inflation. And that includes Hydro Quebec, driver’s licences, school fees and childcare services.”

The LPQ is also proposing similar policies, with a slightly different income tax cut of 1.5 per cent in near term. Fortin said this would save Quebecers up to $1,125 per person.

Both the CAQ and the liberals are promising to give seniors up to $2,000 a year.

“Because we also think that those people who need inflation relief the most are seniors on fixed income, we are proposing a $2,000, non taxable allocation yearly to people 65 and up,” said Fortin.

“The other thing that is important to us, and something we are putting forward is the fact that people who are of a certain age and who want to work a few days a week shouldn’t be penalized,” said Fortin. “So for anybody over the age of 62, we would make it optional to pay into the RRQ. And for anybody 65 and up who do want to work, we wouldn’t make the first $30,000 of revenue non taxable so that you don’t end up working and not making any revenue from it.”

Unlike the CAQ, Fortin stated they should completely freeze hydro rates instead of limiting it to 3 per cent.

“It’s something that the government can control and something that the government should control, ‘’ said Fortin about hydro rates. “Government shouldn’t be the one gouging citizens when they are already facing a difficult financial situation.”

Owen Sebagenze said the QS would support suspending sales taxes on essential items. “We’re talking about food, we’re talking about clothes, we’re talking about repairs for cars and stuff like that. We will suspend it temporarily so that people on average Quebec salaries would save about $1,000 per year.”

Owen Sebagenz also said the QS is committed to plan to lower the cost of dental care for everyone, make dental free for those under 18, seniors and those on social services, expand public transport into rural areas so people could be less reliant on cars and raise the minimum wage.

“We will raise the minimum wage from $14 to $18,” said Owen Sebagenz. “The average income of an employee in the Pontiac is about $33,000, which is barely over the minimum wage which is $30,000 per year in Quebec. That would be an increase of $600 per month, which would really help people who are suffering from the housing crisis from the cost of living crisis.”

Green party candidate Cyr went further writing: “The GPQ is proposing to increase the minimum wage to $20 an hour. The GPQ also wants to make public transit service free. The GPQ also is looking to have the first portion of electricity consumption free of charge. GPQ would like every senior citizen to have a minimal revenue of $1,800 a month.”

The CaPQ on the other hand is proposing both cuts in government spending and an increase in taxes on the wealthy as the way to counter inflation, though has not yet released its full plan.

Twolan defined the broad points of their plan as: “1 Inflation support via direct assistance to vulnerable Quebecers; 2. Spending cuts, revenue adjustments to control inflation; 3. Eliminating government duplication; 4. New income tax brackets at the high end to better promote tax fairness.”

Housing

The candidates also had a variety of proposals regarding housing.

Fortin offered the most comprehensive policy proposal.

“It’s especially problematic right now creating affordable housing in rural areas,’’ said Fortin. “The funding formulas are not tailored to rural areas. It has taken community groups who have wanted to generate more affordable or social housing in the area, years and years of struggles of fundraising and volunteer work to try to get some projects going. Some have managed to get going like Chapeau, others are still working towards their projects like the villa James Shaw shop project.”

This was similar to Cyr’s of the GPQ advocacy of supporting community groups to increase the availability of affordable housing.

Fortin also proposed removing the “welcome tax” for first time home buyers.

“We will compensate the municipalities so they don’t lose out on the proposal, but we want to make it so that when you buy your first home, you are not stuck with a three, four, five or six thousand dollar bill when you’ve completed your purchase,” said Fortin.

CAQ candidate Canuel-Jolicoeur said that the party had not discussed housing yet during the campaign, but reiterated the CAQ’s promise to invest $1.8 million for affordable housing should be reelected.

QS candidate Owen Sebagenz explained their goal as focusing on making abusive increases on rent prices illegal.

“We would really make it so housing prices increase in a stable and predictable manner. We will tax the speculation on the housing market,” said Owen Sebagenz.

Owen Sebagenzalso promised to change regulations at the Tribunal administratif du logement to increase the standards landlords must meet to raise rent prices.

Trade offs

Finally the candidates also discussed the potential consequences of trying to reduce inflation due to the complicated and interconnected nature of economic policy.

Both Fortin and Canuel-Jolicoeur said that income taxes could be reduced responsibly, and without harming the fiscal health of the government of Quebec.

“Government revenues have increased dramatically, ‘’ said Fortin. “Because of the increase in the price of everything, the more expensive everything gets, the more government taxes. And so government is well ahead of its own prediction on income.”

“We have people who know about finances, about business and about the economy that will ensure that [income tax reductions] does not create more debt and struggles for Quebecers,” said Canuel-Jolicoeur.

For his part Owen Sebagenzi emphasized that inflation would be temporary and that the Quebec government would have a limited influence on it, meaning that their impact would be limited.

“The Quebec government has a limited amount of power regarding inflation and can mainly help people go through it by reducing costs by providing more services and by eliminating some undeserved taxes,” said Owen Sebagenzi. “But besides that, we can’t really have an impact on the supply chain, we can’t really have an impact on the war in Ukraine and we don’t control the Bank of Canada .”

However he did warn against proposals to reduce income taxes however. “I just want people to know that it is a very dangerous measure regarding our public finances because it’s going to reduce our public finances a lot,” said Owen Sebagenz . “We’re probably going to face a recession in the coming years. We’re going to face a public services crisis regarding our health care and education institutions that will need means to face them. And that means money, money, money. We can’t slash our main revenue source, which is income taxes, just yet.”

Twolan says the CaPQ’s soon-to-be-released plan will outline how Quebec can avoid a recession in the face of weak economic growth predicted for 2023 and maintain the fiscal health of the province.

“[Parts of the plan] involves a realignment of government services, with some short-term implications for both public and private sector employment,” wrote Twolan. “ If done properly, the end result will be significant year-over-year savings for Quebec.”

THE EQUITY also reached out to the campaigns of both the Parti Québécois and the Conserative Party of Quebec, but they did not respond before press time. THE EQUITY will make an attempt to include them in coverage in the coming weeks.

Next week THE EQUITY will question the candidates on their position and policies on healthcare and climate change.

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