Jacques Boissinot The Canadian Press Marc Tanguay, during an intervention at the National Assembly, January 31
The “unacceptable” deal on health care funding does not challenge the constitutional order, Liberal Interim Leader Marc Tanguay said Tuesday.
Mr. Tanguay said Premier François Legault can't settle for Ottawa's offer for an increase in the Canada Health Transfer below what the provinces were asking for.
During a press briefing, the Liberal leader accused the Prime Minister of showing resignation.
“This is unacceptable,” Mr. Tanguay lamented.
He invited Mr. Legault to put forward the demands of Quebec, which obtained an increase in its transfers of 1 billion per year, when the request was 6 billion.
“There is a report of force, in the population, in the National Assembly, to say that it does not pass, “said the Liberal leader.
According to Mr. Tanguay, the issue is not constitutional but rather concerns Mr. Legault's ability to negotiate.
“The federal government's choice to make the offer it made is not not bound or dependent on constitutional balance, he said. So I don't think we need to open the constitutional file to say that this is a bad deal for Quebec. It has to be negotiated in a way that is much more in line with Quebec's needs. Quebec must have more. »
Taxes in Ottawa
PQ leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon said the disappointing deal should prompt Mr. Legault to bring the option of sovereignty back into his arsenal against Ottawa.
“I think people believed François Legault for a few years, but there, as the failures accumulate, but also as the contempt intensifies in relation to the choices or the differences of Quebec, the question of independence must be asked, “said he said.
Mr. St-Pierre Plamondon said that Quebec taxpayers send almost half of their taxes to the federal government, which offers very few direct services to the population.
“Who finds themselves with almost the entire mission of services important to the population? The government of Quebec, but cut off from a substantial part of the budget that should come with it, the federal government, being busy duplicating things that we are already doing,” he said.
Mr. St-Pierre Plamondon said that the negotiations in which Mr. Legault participated with his counterparts at the Council of the Federation have not lived up to expectations.
“To date, everything he offers us is a few days where he is angry and then tries to bury these questions as if they had not happened, he said. The truth is that if the healthcare system is short $5 billion a year, we can't pretend the issue doesn't exist.
Québec solidaire co-spokesperson, Manon Massé, for her part, demanded a commitment from Mr. Legault that the shortfall will not be made up by cuts to public services.< /p>
“My book is missing $5 billion,” she said. Maybe he will get a couple more in bilateral discussions, but as we speak, 5 billion are missing. How is this government going to assure the entire population of Quebec that when they need health care, there will be a response to the needs,” she said.
