High-Speed Internet : The CAQ Made False Promises and Has Broken Trust.

The Leader of the Official Opposition and Critic responsible for the Charter for Regions, Ms. Dominique Anglade, is asking Premier Legault to be transparent with Quebecers and state whether or not his government truly intends to connect all Quebecers to high-speed Internet by 2022.

For over 2 years, the Coalition Avenir Québec has been travelling throughout our regions telling our mayors that it will connect all of Quebec to high-speed Internet by the end of the current mandate. This morning, we discovered that the government has known for 1 year that it will be incapable of meeting our regions’ expectations and yet despite that fact, it still goes on telling the opposite to local officials. Their trust has been broken.

Today we learned that the government has known for 1 year that it will not be able to keep its election promise to connect all of Quebec to high-speed Internet before the upcoming election in 2022. Yet at the National Assembly yesterday rather than showing transparency, Premier Legault said that he would be able to meet the objectives. At the same time his minister responsible for Regional Economic Development, Marie-Ève Proulx, is now telling us about potential delivery dates. What I am asking of François Legault is to be transparent with Quebec’s mayors and with all Quebecers, to put his cards on the table. For 2 years now, the CAQ has been telling our regions that they will have access to high-speed Internet and now, at mid-mandate, the reality is something altogether different. If that’s the Legault government’s brand of nationalism, I don’t even dare to imagine his vision for the development and vitality of our regions. The least he can do is to show transparency with our local governments.

–Dominique Anglade, Leader of the Official Opposition and Critic for the Charter for Regions