MONTREAL - Nobody wants another provincial election in Quebec and Premier Jean Charest says he has done everything he can to prevent one.
Speaking to reporters Sunday in his home riding of Sherbrooke, Que., Charest said he hopes that his party will be able to forge out a deal with the opposition parties on the provincial budget and save his Liberal minority government and the province from what could be a second election this year.
Both the Parti Quebecois and the Action Democratique du Quebec have threatened to vote against the Liberal budget in a vote scheduled for Friday unless major modifications are made.
The opposition parties have taken the government to task for $950 million in income tax cuts. The PQ would like to see health care and education investments while the ADQ called for debt repayment before cutting taxes.
But Quebec Finance Minister Monique Jerome-Forget said on a French television news show on Sunday the tax cuts were non-negotiable.
"That's for the middle class and I'm here to defend the middle class,'' Charest said of the cuts.
He said the Liberals took both opposition parties interests into consideration when they released their budget last week.
"I can't predict how this week will end but what I can say is Quebecers don't want another election and neither do I,'' Charest told reporters.
Charest said no negotiations had taken place yet, but there was an entire week before the scheduled vote. If the budget is voted down, the result could trigger a snap election for as early as July.
Bloc Quebecois leader Gilles Duceppe says Charest needs to be reminded that being at the helm of a minority government means making concessions.
Duceppe said the Liberals need to back down and come up with a budget proposal that will satisfy the Parti Quebecois.
"He's in minority. He has to consider that,'' Duceppe said at the nomination meeting of Bloc MP Real Menard in Montreal on Sunday. "When you're in minority, you need to have the support of at least another party.''
Charest said he was disappointed with the PQ's decision to vote against the Liberal budget, but admitted the sovereigntist party's support would be key.
Quebecers went to the polls on March 26, voting for a minority Liberal government and making the ADQ the official opposition, followed by the PQ in third-place.
Duceppe said despite the PQ's poor showing, he thinks Pauline Marois can lead the sovereigntist party in the event of a quick election call.
"She has the support of everyone in the Parti-Quebecois,'' said Duceppe, who entered and exited the PQ leadership in a shocking 24-hour span.
Marois, a former cabinet minister who twice has failed in attempts to win the party leadership, is the only candidate for the vacant PQ leadership thus far.
