Quebec leaders talk hydro, health care, regions

Liberal Leader Jean Charest elaborated onhis party's ambitious plan to develop northern Quebec on Friday, promising to boost Hydro-Qubec's capacity, increase wind and sun energy production and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

The "Great North Plan" will position Quebec "as a Canadian leader in the fight against climate change," while pushing the limits of the province's "last great frontier," Charest said in Sept-les.

"The north is our future," he saidwhile campaigningfor the Dec. 8 provincial election.

The plan focuses on energy development, mining and tourism. It includes targets to increase Hydro-Qubec's capacity by 3,500 megawatts to power 600,000 homes, while creating jobs in the energy industry, Charest said.

It'sthe third time Charest has announced the "Great North Plan" in the last year.

The expansion project isn't slated to start until 2015.

PQboosts regions

Parti Qubcois Leader Pauline Marois campaigned in the Saguenay region Friday,announcing a $500-million business startup plan and tax incentives to stimulate development in outlying regions.

"Outlying regions are the key to our collective development, and it is time the Quebec government looks seriously at the challenges they face," Marois said in La Baie.

The Liberal government has abandoned some regions while in power, Marois charged.

Mario Dumont, leader of the Action dmocratique du Qubec,focused on health care on his campaign route Friday.

Heaccusedthe Liberals ofdoing little to cure Quebec's overworked health-care system, which he said is bogged down by bureaucracy and riddled with inequities.

Health care is creeping toward a two-tier system with average Quebecers waiting for treatment, while the rich and "players for the Canadiens" get prompt care through the private sector, Dumont said.

Although the Liberals and the PQ continuously tout the primacy of the public health-care system, society's more privileged members have access to private health care "through the back door," Dumont said.

The ADQ leader isn't completely opposed to private health care. He said he'd like to open the door to private clinics and health co-operatives, to take pressure off the public system.

"People are ready to pay," Dumont said, insisting Quebecers want freedom of choice.