Quebec election: What are the five main parties promising ahead of Oct. 3 vote?

For the first time, five parties have a chance of winning at least one seat in Quebec's 125-seat legislature. Here is where the parties stand on some major themes.

The Quebec election is on Oct. 3, and for the first time, five parties have a chance of winning at least one seat in the 125-seat legislature. Here is where the parties stand on some major themes.

The Coalition Avenir Québec is promising to cut income taxes by a total of 2.5 per cent over 10 years, with a first cut affecting to the two lowest tax brackets in 2023. The party is also promising to cut cheques this year for up to $600 for about 6.4 million Quebecers. Party leader François Legault says if re-elected, the CAQ would also spend $1.8 billion on social and affordable housing in the next mandate.

The Quebec Liberal party is promising to cut income taxes for the two lowest tax brackets and raise them for the “super rich.” It is also committing to abolishing the Quebec sales tax on the first $4,000 of annual electricity bills and on certain basic necessities such as toothpaste, shampoo and certain medications.

Québec solidaire is promising an annual wealth tax starting at 0.1 per cent for assets worth $1 million, up to 1.5 per cent for assets worth $100 million or more. The party is also proposing an inheritance tax of 35 per cent on assets over $1 million or more. Québec solidaire is also promising to temporarily suspend the sales tax on items such as food, medication and clothing, and it says it will increase the minimum wage to $18 an hour.

The Conservative Party of Quebec is promising to cut income taxes — retroactively to the 2022 fiscal year — to 13 per cent from 15 per cent for the first $46,295 and then cut it to 18 per cent from 20 per cent for income between $46,295 and $92,580. The party is committing to suspend the provincial tax on gasoline. The Conservatives are also promising to cut the sales tax on used consumer goods.

The Parti Québécois is promising to distribute one-time “purchasing power allocations” of $1,200 for people with income less than $50,000 and of $750 for people who make between $50,000 and $80,000.

The CAQ is promising not to hold an independence referendum; it says its project for Quebec is within Canada — despite the fact the party has nominated several high-profile sovereigntists as candidates. The CAQ says it will invest up to $40 million toward 20 research chairs in Quebec studies, and the party is also committing to invest another $40 million to restore and maintain religious buildings across the province.

The Liberals are promising to gut the main sections of Quebec’s secularism law — known as Bill 21 — to allow teachers to wear religious symbols at work and to remove the use of the notwithstanding clause that shields the law from court challenges. The party says it will also reform the CAQ’s language law — Bill 96 — in order to allow all francophones and allophones the right to attend English junior colleges and remove the requirement that immigrants communicate with the government in French within six months of arriving.