QUEBEC - Quebecers will see income-tax cuts, hikes in post-secondary tuition fees and an infusion of new doctors if they re-elect his Liberals, Premier Jean Charest said Friday.
The premier, who is expected to announce on Wednesday that a vote will be held March 26, released the key planks of his party's platform a day before Liberals meet to endorse it.
Charest, who was elected premier in April 2003, is hoping Quebecers will continue their practice of giving governments at least two consecutive mandates.
"We have something working for us,'' he said in Quebec City. "We have a few things working for us. First of all, our record is strong. We have a very solid record of accomplishments.
"Secondly, we're on the right priorities -- the priorities of Quebecers are health care, education, the environment, sustainable development, families.
"We're on the right priorities because it's their priorities.''
Charest said his Liberal government is already halfway to meeting his promise of reducing income taxes to the Canadian average and he promised to complete the job with $250 million in tax cuts each year.
"The question is do you want to stop,'' Charest said. "Do you want to put the brakes on now, do you want to stop all this and dive into a referendum as fast as possible?''
The premier's mention of a sovereignty referendum will no doubt be repeated constantly during the campaign in an attempt to play up the political and economic uncertainty associated with such a vote.
But Parti Quebecois Leader Andre Boisclair said Charest has no credibility and that Quebecers won't buy his promises.
"If it's the continuation of what the Liberals have done and promised, what Mr. Charest today is selling, it's a major lie,'' Boisclair said.
The Charest government broke its promises to cut income taxes by $1 billion a year for five years and to keep day-care fees at $5 a day, he said.
Inevitably, Charest was asked about Quebec's "national question'' and the possibility of another round of constitutional talks.
"If the question you're asking me is whether we're proposing to reopen the Constitution, the answer is no,'' Charest said. "When will it happen? Nobody knows, be it here or in the rest of Canada.
"If ever we came to the conclusion that the fruit was ripe for that kind of change, we'd move forward but we're not there.''
Charest's promise to boost post-secondary tuition fees, which have been frozen for years and are the lowest in the country, drew immediate criticism from one student group.
The Quebec University Students Federation said Charest has "declared war'' on students by promising to lift the freeze.
Federation president Christian Belair warned the Quebec premier he will encounter students throughout the campaign.
Belair said a tuition hike would result in increased poverty and higher debt for students.
Charest also said he would hire 1,500 additional doctors within five years.
Finance Minister Michel Audet will table a budget on Tuesday, clearing the way for the election to be called the following day.
