Faced with the “contempt” of the federal government in the file of health transfers, Prime Minister Legault should name the sovereignist option in order to restore a semblance of a balance of power, believes the Parti Québécois.
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This is what PQ leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon said on Wednesday at a press briefing in parliament.
“I urge François Legault to at least surrender to Bourassa’s level of nationalism,” he said, adding that he finds it hard to imagine that as he fell asleep last night, François Legault n did not have in mind that independence was a viable option for Quebec.
On Tuesday, François Legault said he was disappointed with the federal offer regarding health transfers. “The catch-up that we asked for is not there, so it does not solve the fundamental problem of funding health care in Canada,” said the Prime Minister during a press conference after his meeting with its 12 counterparts from the other provinces and territories.
Asked whether Mr. Legault’s reaction should have been stronger, Mr. St-Pierre Plamondon expressed that the Prime Minister’s disappointment had “the merit of being clear”, but that he feels a a certain “resignation”, caused by the fatigue of always being shocked and of not having any real balance of power.
Given the fact that Quebec obtained “only one sixth” of what it asked for, that is to say one billion per year rather than six, the Legault government must table a “contingency plan”.
“It is the responsibility of the government to say what we are going to do with this money, and to say what we cannot do, given the fact that we are short of 5 billion to operate,” said said MP Pascal Bérubé.
The federal government offered an additional $46.2 billion over ten years. The provinces demanded that the federal contribution be increased from 22% to 35%, the equivalent of an additional $28 billion annually. The offer currently on the table instead provides for an annual injection of $4.87 billion across the country, or nearly six times less than what was hoped for.
Insufficient
The Liberals, in turn, said that the federal offer is insufficient and unacceptable. “The offer put forward yesterday will not allow Quebecers to have the health rights to which they are entitled,” said Liberal MP André Fortin.
Moreover, the Premier of Quebec, in the opinion of the Liberal Party of Quebec, failed in his negotiations and he let Quebec down.
“Mr. Legault has always made himself the great defender of Quebec, yesterday he abdicated the defense of the interests of Quebec and of Quebecers,” railed Mr. Fortin, who believes that François Legault should have “teared his shirt when he got out of his encounter”.
Moreover, Mr. Fortin believes that the Legault government has no problem with the balance of power vis-à-vis Ottawa. He pointed out that the CAQ is in the majority and “well in the saddle for 4 years”, while the federal Liberals are in the minority and constantly watched by the specter of an election.
Legault crashed, according to QS
The spokesperson for Québec solidaire, Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois, is also of the opinion that François Legault has kowtow to the federal government.
“Yesterday he should have been angry. What we saw him do was crash before the insulting offer of Justin Trudeau and the federal government.
Solidarity MP Vincent Marissal added that the Minister of Health, Christian Dubé, must “a little freak out” seeing “the meager harvest that his leader brought back from Ottawa”.
“The offer that is on the table is not only insufficient, it is ridiculous,” he said.
Mr. Marissal hopes that the federal government’s offer will not push the Legault government to show austerity in the coming years.
“Are they going to do the trick of the Liberals of Charest and Couillard again and cut in the mission of the State which is health?” he wondered.