What are Quebec’s parties proposing on labour and the cost of living?

During the campaign, all of Quebec’s provincial parties claimed to defend the “middle class,” its purchasing power, and its quality of life. The North Star has reviewed their statements on a wide range of topics—including the cost of living and working conditions—to understand what their real promises are for the working class.

It is impossible to cover everything, but at a time when a large portion of the population is calling for significant changes, the details of these commitments and the battle of numbers being waged by the parties deserve our attention.

Assistance with basic needs

The first war of numbers is over basic needs.

The Parti Québécois (PQ) would add $100 million a year to food assistance. In 2025, food banks in Quebec were helping 600,000 people each month. The promised amount therefore represents about $14 more per month per person.

To reduce grocery bills, Québec Solidaire (QS) aims for a $2,500 annual reduction (about 15%) by leveraging capitalist competition: opening 15 public grocery stores across the province to “compete” with the private sector and capping grocery stores’ profit margins at 2%. The problem is that these margins have always been around 2%, despite a recent rise to 3–4%. Even if profit margins were completely eliminated, a public grocery store would have a very hard time lowering its prices by 15%. Buying in bulk wouldn’t make much of a difference, since large chains already do so and derive most of their profits from their private-label brands and vertical integration (ownership of distribution, production, and related services, for example).

Beyond the grocery basket, the parties have also targeted families. The incumbent CAQ and the Liberals (PLQ) would extend parental leave by two weeks, while QS would extend it by five weeks. The Conservatives (PCQ) would pay $100 per week to women who stay home to care for their children. QS would increase the family allowance by $200 per year per child, and the PQ would add $700 per year for a third and fourth child.

As in every campaign, daycare spots have also been a hot-button issue. The CAQ promises 25,000 subsidized spots, meaning in private daycare centres. The PQ and the PLQ are aiming for 15,000 spots in the province’s subsidized educational daycare centres. QS proposes to “complete” the network, while the PCQ would prioritize the private sector.

The same logic applies to the figures regarding homelessness. The PQ proposes $250 million per year, QS $135 million and 6,000 transitional housing units, the PLQ $60 million per year, and the CAQ approximately $60 million per year.

Housing

While food and services account for a significant portion of household spending, housing takes up the largest share of the household budget.

When it comes to buying a first home, the proposals remain limited. The PQ would refund a portion of the sales tax on new homes, which are often out of reach for the working class. The CAQ would increase the tax credit for first-time homebuyers by $5,800, or about 1% of the average home price in the province.

To address the rental housing crisis, all parties hope that free-market competition will lower rents by increasing supply. The PQ promises 20,000 social housing units, QS 50,000, and the PLQ 40,000 social or “affordable” housing units. This term is open to debate, since the latest wave of “affordable” rental housing built under the CAQ’s mandate reached as high as $1,722 per month for a two-bedroom apartment. The CAQ and the PCQ are also committed to building more housing, without specifying prices. But no party is promising, for example, to seize the province’s nearly 100,000 vacant units to make them accessible.

On the issue of rents, QS takes a slightly firmer stance than the others, without, however, proposing any bold measures. While many comparable parties elsewhere in the world propose freezing rents, QS seeks only to cap them at the rate of inflation, with a maximum of 3%. In other words, the status quo—or nearly so.

The PCQ, for its part, has openly sided with big landlords. It would remove all limits on rent increases for units renovated within the last five years or that have been vacant for a year. It would allow security deposits prior to renting—which are currently illegal—and would facilitate provisional rulings by the Administrative Housing Tribunal, including against tenants who are having difficulty paying.

Taxation

To pay for groceries and rent, people need, first and foremost, an income—which the government taxes at very high rates to fund itself.

Québec Solidaire wants the wealthiest to pay more. The party would impose a 1% tax on net worth exceeding $25 million, and a 2% tax on net worth exceeding $100 million. It would not lower taxes for the working class. In fact, QS advocates for a “strong state” and a “Quebec model” that it considers simply underfunded. However, many economists doubt that it could actually raise the 5 billion it promises through these new taxes.

The Conservatives promise the opposite, with great fanfare: “historic” tax cuts for workers, estimated at $11,000 per household. But what it doesn’t say is that this figure is spread out over five years for an average household. For a couple with two children earning an average income, that amounts to $2,200 per year. A real cut, but far less dramatic. And while the PCQ reduces revenue at the lower end of the income scale, it also reduces it at the top. The party proposes cutting corporate taxes by nearly 60%, which would result, this time, in a truly historic drop in government revenue.

When it comes to gas, two parties are playing the same card. The PQ would cut the provincial sales tax on gas in half, with no provisions to control production or prices. The PCQ would do the same by suspending the Quebec tax for five months. Past experience, however, calls for caution. Ottawa had announced a similar measure in April, intended to reduce the price by $0.10 per litre. The price drop lasted about two weeks—just long enough for companies to raise their prices back to previous levels—with profits $0.10 higher.

The elimination of provincial sales tax on used goods, proposed by the PQ, the QS, and the PCQ, is very popular. However, out of the few hundred dollars a person spends each year on such items, the savings amount to only a few dozen dollars. They are higher for major purchases, such as several hundred dollars on a used car.

Work

That leaves the source of income for the vast majority: work itself.

The PQ would raise the minimum wage to a “decent” level. However, it does not provide any specific figures. According to IRIS, a decent wage would exceed $26 per hour, an amount the pro-independence party is likely not aiming for. QS, for its part, is aiming for a lower level, at $20 per hour. But the party plans to draw on public funds to reimburse businesses for nearly half of this increase.

Another battle of the numbers concerns the number of people who will lose their jobs in the public sector. The CAQ would cut 2,900 jobs, the PLQ 12,000, and the PCQ 20,000. The PQ cites 2.5% of the total payroll, a figure close to that of the PLQ. It is true that government bureaucracy continues to grow. However, there is no guarantee that these cuts would spare public services.

Both the CAQ and the PCQ want to eliminate a host of workplace safety standards, particularly in the construction sector. They would even go so far as to exempt certain sectors from the R-20 Act, which sets the operating rules for this particularly dangerous sector. The contractors thus exempted would mainly be small business owners, who are already responsible for a disproportionate share of workplace accidents.

On the issue of unionization, positions diverge sharply. QS and the PQ want to make it slightly easier. The PCQ, on the other hand, would make it more cumbersome, with additional votes and new government agencies likely to interfere in union affairs. All of this would come on top of a CAQ law that has already inflated union bureaucracy, in the name of “transparency.”

The most unequivocal measure of the campaign comes from QS: a ban on lockouts. The party has a few other strong measures in its platform, but it says very little about them, even during a debate on labour organized by the unions.

Half-measures

Upon examining these proposals, one conclusion stands out. All the parties claim to represent the “middle class,” but few of their measures would truly challenge the status quo, as voters seem to demand.

When it comes to the cost of living, the measures proposed by the three most centrist parties (PQ, PLQ, CAQ), taken as a whole, amount to a few hundred dollars, or perhaps a few thousand. This will certainly help. But for many households, it will remain a drop in the bucket amid soaring prices and the stress of making ends meet.

The same is true when it comes to labour. A little more or a little less union bureaucracy, but just as much, or less, regulation. However, no measure seems aimed at giving more power to the working class or even helping it do its job better.

The two least centrist parties, QS and the PCQ, are proposing more vigorous measures, although these fall far short of the ambitious proposals seen in the past or elsewhere in the world. And their financial plans quickly wither under criticism. QS retains a few stronger proposals on labour issues but seems to be hiding them, as if it were ashamed to talk about the working class. The PCQ, which positions itself as the defender of workers, is preparing a series of structural measures that could quickly backfire on them.

Ultimately, public opinion has rarely seemed so divided. It could send five parties to the National Assembly, a situation almost unprecedented in Quebec’s history. This division reflects a desire for profound change, in a campaign where enthusiasm is lacking and the number of undecided voters has reached unusually high levels. Quebec’s working class, which makes up the majority of the province’s population, seems to be searching for a strong alternative capable of addressing the root causes of its problems. However, there is no indication that it will find one anytime soon.