By Robert Frank
www.thesuburban.com
Jean Rousselle was unsurprised by a straw poll last week, which hinted that the Quebec Liberal Party (QLP) is starting to make strong inroads in Laval.
“We see it on the ground when we go door-to-door,” the Liberal MNA who is campaigning for reelection in Vimont riding told The Suburban.
“The pure sovereignists don’t appreciate what [Quebec Premier] Pauline Marois is doing, and are bailing out of the Parti québécois and gravitating to the Québec solidaire party,” he observed in an interview.
“The remaining people who don’t want a referendum are, to my great surprise, coming to us and telling us that they will vote Liberal this year,” a pleased Rousselle reported.
“All the people who have tended to vote for the Coalition pour l’avenir du Québec (CAQ) are telling us that this year, CAQ boils down to just one man: François Legault,” he continued. “They’re leaving and coming straight to us.”
“We’re seeing the same trend throughout Quebec,” Rousselle added. “The population is aging, which makes health care and a stable economy their priorities. They know we can’t afford to keep going backward.”
“People on the street say they simply want a job,” Rousselle continued. “They want dignity, not employment insurance. The QLP wants to create 250,000 jobs. When the Péquiste government killed the Plan nord, it sent ripples around the world. Even people in India were talking about it. Now, this referendum talk is scaring even more jobs away to Ontario and elsewhere.”
“Small- and medium-size business create most of the jobs in the province,” he noted. “Within the next five-to-ten years, most of the people who run Quebec’s small- and medium-sized businesses plan to retire. We need to get ready to pass the baton smoothly to the next generation.”
Rousselle wants to build schools in Vimont, if the QLP forms the next government.
“The Vimont-Autheuil population is growing strongly, lots of new families are setting up in the housing developments and we need new French and English schools here,” he insisted.
He also reiterated his call for the province to ensure that there are several ambulances on patrol in Laval at all times, whomever is elected April 7.
“The results could be really catastrophic,” he warned. “As a former Laval Police officer, I’ve seen people die on the streets. It’s essential that we be able to transport the acutely ill and injured to hospital in the minimum time possible.”