Westmount – St. Louis MNA Jacques Chagnon is no fool. He knows that convincing voters to head back to the polls so soon after a federal election will be tough. The fact that a provincial election was held less than two years ago doesn’t help either.

But he believes it is necessary.

“We should not be blind to what is going on below the border,” said Chagnon. “Almost 80 per cent of what we produce leaves the province, either going to Ontario or the States. Imagine what will happen next year with an economic slowdown. The US has already lost 1.2 million jobs and 2 million houses have been foreclosed on.”

Chagnon believes Quebec needs a majority government with a strong mandate to guide Quebec through the coming economic storm. The Liberals currently form a minority government, holding 48 out of 125 seats in the National Assembly. Chagnon has held his seat as a Liberal since 1985, making him one of the longest serving MNAs at the moment.

Echoing comments made by Premier Jean Charest, Chagnon said that neither opposition parties, the Parti Québécois or the Action-Démocratique du Québec, are willing to cooperate with the government. He pointed to the recent controversy over the election of PQ member Francois Gendron as Speaker of the National Assembly as evidence the opposition parties were undermining the government.

With a majority government, Chagnon believes the Liberals will be able to continue their investments in infrastructure they started two years ago. These investments, he said, will create jobs and help alleviate some economic pressure on working families and labourers. The Federation of Quebec Municipalities recently encouraged both the federal and provincial government to invest more in infrastructure projects.

“We want to update the roads, waterworks, even our hydroelectric dams,” he said. The government has already put $13 billion into infrastructure projects since 2006 and has reduced taxes at the same time. They plan on investing another $34 billion in the future. “But we need to get a majority to do that, to face this snowstorm from the south.”

As for the Parti Québécois, Chagnon does not believe it is suited to face the financial crisis; one that many economists say will be the worst since the Great Depression. “They’ve dealt with two minor economic crises as the government,” he said. “In 1982, their solution was to raise provincial sales tax to nine per cent and cut public employee salaries by 20 per cent for three months. In 1998, they forced 1,600 doctors and 4,000 into retirement, and we’ve been dealing with that ever since.”

As for the question of voter apathy, Chagnon said, “The challenge is to make the ballot question important enough to get people to go vote. I think this question is important. It is a reality check we can’t ignore.”