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CAP-SANTÉ — Outside the historic church in Cap-Santé, southwest of Quebec City on the North Shore of the St. Lawrence, François Legault pledged Saturday afternoon to increase funding to preserve and restore the province’s aging and often under-utilized churches to $20 million a year. Another $5 million would go toward aiding in their conversion for other purposes.

“We must give back life to our churches, find new vocations for them, but we have to preserve them,” Legault said during brief comments that soon segued to the issue of immigration under questioning from journalists. “Our religious heritage is part of our collective memory.”

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More than 450 churches closed their doors between 2003 and 2016, in part because of Liberal cutbacks, the CAQ said.

The Liberals cut funding from $20 million to $10 million in 2009. They raised it to $12 million last year, and promised to increase it to $15 million for 2018-2019 this August. The CAQ would increase spending to $20 million a year.

“It’s 15 years that the Liberals have been here and they have neglected our churches,” Legault said. “If we want change in Quebec, if we want to do more for our religious heritage, we must change government. … Our duty to our collective memory obliges us to revitalize our churches.”

rbruemmer@postmedia.com

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