The Journal interviews Pascal Medieu – Forces et Démocratie

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Arnaud de la Salle
(tr. AB)


Arnaud de la Salle
(tr. AB)

Pascal Medieu, running for the Forces et Démocratie party, spoke about his platform and explained how F&D emerged when an NDP and Bloc MP united: Jean François Fortin and Jean François Larose. Both MPs were disappointed that they weren’t able to freely express their views within their respective parties and decided to form a new party that would place the actions of parliamentarians at the heart of their policies. F&D is a party with non-partisan spirit that defends regional values through five themes: decentralization, regional economic development, participatory democracy, sustainable development, and social development.
Médieu is in favour of retirement pension bonues, flexible retirement rules, starting from age 65 without penalty, allowing those who wish to continue working to do so up to 67 years and older. In terms of the child care system, the candidate defends the provincial
system and would like to see it better supported. Médieu believes Employment Insurance must be strengthened and transformed back to the way it used to be.
On an economic level, the F&D party advocates for “lasting growth in a social economy with an environmental conscience”. For tourism, Médieu would like to see the creation of cooperatives in order to diversify what is available and to offer solutions to communities that would like to invest in the sector; this method could also apply to the forestry and agriculture industries. 
Médieu advocates for a form of proportional representation that
benefits regions. He is not in favour of abolishing the Senate, but
supports non-partisan appointment proposed by a committee. He defends the Senate because according to him, it gives representation to the provinces. Médieu said his party would repeal Bill C-51 and support electoral reform in order to return to a more democratic law. Médieu said he will support any policy that aims to combat the abuse of political power and defends the
independence of MPs.
According to Médieu, in terms of infrastructure, like the internet, it is the federal government’s responsibility to invest in the infrastructure to create most of the network and then make way for competition between operators to meet the needs of users. For road infrastructure like Mansfield’s red bridge, Médieu said he is committed to working
to obtain maximum
federal funding for the project despite it being mainly under provincial jurisdiction.
In conclusion, the
candidate vouches for
the supply management
system and wants to protect agriculture by discussing free trade agreements. For him, agriculture and culture are
sectors where protection is essential