After years of cuts, Premier Philippe Couillard is promising to re-inject close to $3 billion into the education system if he's re-elected on Oct. 1.
On day 5 of the election campaign, the premier promised, among other things, to have two early childhood educators, not just one, to be added for pre-schools, right up to grade 1.
The premier is also promising to make daycare free for four-year-olds, and is also promising more English — specifically, intensive English for francophone students in grades 5 and 6.
Meanwhile, Couillard is resisting calls from his opponents to rein in his star candidate for the St. Laurent riding, after she likened CAQ leader François Legault to Donald Trump.
Marwah Rizqy says Legault's releasing of text messages between himself and now-Liberal candidate Gertrude Bourdon smacked of sexism — and suggested Legault was engaging in American-style politics.
Bourdon was recruited by the Liberals last week — and announced as the Liberals' next health minister — after being unsuccessfully courted by the CAQ.
Meanwhile, the CAQ's Legault says he'd give families an additional $1,200 per child in family allowance for every child after the first one.
He says he wasn't thinking about boosting the birth rate when he devised the plan, but added if it does lead to more kids being born in Quebec, all the better.
As for the Parti Québécois, they're proposing somehting of a Tinder for carpoolers — an app that would essentially match carpoolers with those looking for a ride. Drivers, incidentally, would get 4 dollars for each ride they give, with the money coming from the province's Green Fund.
The PQ is also reiterating its pledge to kill off the REM light-rail train network, which leader Jean-François Lisée calls an election gift to West Islanders. Lisée favors a network of tramways and buses to help ease traffic chaos on the whole of the island.
Quebec Solidaire, for its part, addressed the burning question surrounding some its more extravagant campaign promises on Monday — how does it intend to pay for them all?
The leftist party has promises free education from daycare to doctorate, half-price fares for public transit, and free dental care for all, among other things.
It plans to raise billions for, among other things, the creation of a new agency, Pharma Québec, which would oversee the bulk purchase of pharmaceuticals. It would also raise $2.1 billion from a tax increase on businesses with more than 500 employees, and another $2.05 billion from an overhaul of the income tax system. That overhaul would see taxes go up for the top 9 per cent of earners in Quebec — those who earn in excess of $97,000 per year.
Just about everyone else, the party says, would see a tax cut, amounting to a few hundred dollars per head.