François Legault is confident he'll take Huntingdon and Soulanges

After visiting the Ormstown Town Hall on Monday, November 13, François Legault, Leader of the Coalition Avenir Québec, believes that his party will be a big surprise in the region during the next provincial elections. The next provincial elections take place October 1st, 2018. Legault is already focusing his energy and touring Quebec to meet with voters and business managers. This is the case for the Huntingdon constituency where he has been discussing the importance of food processing and expanding the industrial sector. "If we look at surveys, Huntingdon will become a CAQ riding during the next election," indicated François Legault. "I'm not going to hide the fact that this is a riding we'd like to win. We have Soulanges in our sights as well because, based on projections, our party is also leading in that riding." The CAQ leader's presence in Huntingdon is far from a simple courtesy visit. Legault took advantage of his time here to visit food processing plants. "There are some significant businesses in this sector in the Huntingdon region," emphasized Legault. "It's a sector that has been neglected. In general, the Liberal Government has taken the Huntingdon area for granted and has not invested sufficient resources in food processing. Instead we've seen cuts to agriculture in the budget. We need more jobs in this sector. The salaries are very good. Furthermore, it's better to process before exporting." Manufacturing is another domain that the leader of the CAQ hopes to see developed. "At the time that the textile mills closed down, Mayor Gendron undertook to create an industrial park," related François Legault. "Unfortunately this groundswell was stopped. Funds are needed in order to attract businesses or to allow existing ones to expand. Salaries in industry are 35% higher than the average salary in Quebec." François Legault also maintains that it is essential to stop increasing taxes and tariffs. "At the Commission scolaire de la Vallée-des-Tisserands, there has been a 29% increase in school taxes," insisted the leader of the CAQ. "However, no one has had a salary increase. We have to let the taxpayers breathe. Taking into consideration all the increases, families have seen a rise of $1000 in their tax burden over three years. The Minister of Finance has just announced a tax break in two weeks. People should keep in mind that the first $1000 is merely to erase tax hikes and tariffs." Finally, François Legault indicated that the main debate in Quebec elections for the past 45 years has been about sovereignty. "That is why last year the CAQ publically stated that the main party line was to put forward a draft constitution within Canada," concluded the politician. Translated by Cathleen Johnston