It’s day 17 of the Quebec election campaign and the party leaders are fanning out across the province to make a number of promises to voters ahead of the Oct. 5 election. Key details: Follow along for the latest updates: PQ wants to make health-care system less ‘hospital-centric’ The Parti Québécois (PQ) promises to make CLSCs the “gateway” to the health-care system and to strengthen primary care to make the system less “hospital-centric.” At a press conference in eastern Montreal on Saturday morning, PQ leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon presented his party’s vision for health care, stating in particular that a PQ government would invest $150 million over four years in CLSCs. The PQ also aims to promote prevention by increasing the public health budget allocated to this area by $550 million over four years. Among other things, the party plans to introduce measures to encourage physical activity, improve Quebecers’ mental health, and combat the over-prescription of medications. Finally, the PQ wants to increase the number of doctors by expanding medical school cohorts and allowing medical programs to be established at regional universities, where there is a shortage of health-care professionals. The PQ leader, who had already promised to abolish the Santé Québec agency, also launched several barbs at the Coalition Avenir Québec’s (CAQ) management of the health- care system. “We’ve just spent eight years under the CAQ with ‘top guns’ who wanted to manage health care—not from a human perspective, with a focus on health itself—but who wanted to run it like a private company seeking a return on investment,” St-Pierre-Plamondon said. The Canadian Press Health care: Liberals vow to allocate funding for prevention Speaking at a recreational centre in Trois-Rivières, Que., Charles Milliard announced that the Liberals would gradually increase health-care spending toward prevention and reach 5 per cent by the end of the next decade if his party forms government. The increased spending would be directed at screening programs for certain kinds of cancers, chronic disease prevention and vaccination efforts, among other things. “While our health-care system is largely organized to intervene once illness has set in, the Quebec Liberal Party wants to rebalance efforts to better prevent disease, detect it earlier, and help Quebecers live longer, healthier lives,” the party said in a news release on Saturday. The PLQ said it would also create a Quebec Prevention Pathway for eligible residents so they could receive personalized invitations to health screening, vaccinations, and other preventative interventions based on their age, genger, and risk factors. In addition, the party said it would also support the “time-out” proposed by Pierre Lavoie and the Coalition pour l’avenir du sport et de l’activité physique au Québec to promote more active lifestyles for Quebecers. “Our system will always be there to care for Quebecers when they are sick. But it must also be much more present before they become ill. Gradually allocating 5% of our health care spending to prevention means making a clear choice: acting sooner so we can live longer, healthier lives,” Milliard added. Joe Lofaro, CTVNewsMontreal.ca digital reporter CAQ would increase number of police officer, prosecutors in Quebec CAQ leader Christine Fréchette is vowing to add 300 police officers to the Sûreté du Québec and municipal police forces to tackle crime in the province. She said 50 Crown prosecutors would also be added to the Office of the Directeur des poursuites criminelles et pénales during the next term. Fréchette was at the Quebec police academy in Nicolet on Saturday morning. She said she was prepared to invest $196 million in these two measures. “In recent years, crime has changed in Quebec,” she said. “Now, criminals are recruiting our young people online.” “Harassment, fraud, and extortion are now happening online. Armed violence is a growing concern for citizens,” she added. The CAQ would also invest $13 million to create “joint teams” in the regions consisting of a police officer and a mental health professional. Two centres of technological expertise, in Montreal and Quebec City, would be established at a cost of $14 million. They would pool the expertise of various police forces in the fight against fraud, the online recruitment of minors, the radicalization of youth, and illicit trafficking. The Canadian Press
