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QUEBEC — It will be a unique, dare we say, Canadian-style election.

The campaign Premier Philippe Couillard kicks off Thursday with a visit to the lieutenant-governor will — for the first time in a long, long time — focus on the bread-and-butter issues of the day.

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Who of the four leaders will make the best premier? Who do you trust to run the economy? Who has the best daycare plan? Where do the parties stand on taxes, health-care services, education, immigration, language, environment, transit?

Name it, it’s on the table. Voting day is Oct. 1. Welcome to the battle for Quebec.

What’s out, more or less, is the old federalism-sovereignty debate. That in itself is a first in 40 years in Quebec. In this campaign, no party is talking referendums.

The Parti Québécois has not abandoned the independence idea — far from it — but that is not what the focus will be during the next 39 days as the campaign caravans set out to criss-cross Quebec.