QUEBEC CITY – In his first news conference since his Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ) party won a landslide victory in the province’s first fixed-date election, Premier designate François Legault said on Tuesday his top priority in the short term is protecting supply management.

To that end, Legault said he was due to speak that afternoon with Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland to discuss concessions made by Canada to renew its free trade agreement with the United States and Mexico.

Supply management is a program that guarantees a stable income for dairy, egg and poultry producers.

U.S. President Donald Trump denounced Canada’s tariffs on imports of dairy products of up to 300 per cent as unfair, and Canadian negotiators agreed to open dairy markets to American producers by between 3.2 and 3.6 per cent to reach an agreement.

“What does it mean for the agricultural producers?” Legault asked.

Without giving details, Legault said “all options” would be considered to answer the concerns of Quebec’s dairy producers, who account for about half the milk produced in Canada.

Outgoing Premier Philippe Couillard said, “Just watch me,” when asked what he would do if Ottawa made concessions on supply management.

Couillard’s words echoed those of former prime minister Pierre Trudeau, who called the Canadian army into Quebec to deal with the murder-kidnapping October Crisis in 1970.

Couillard also said the Quebec National Assembly might not ratify the new U.S.-Mexico-Canada trade agreement, and suggested the government of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau could pay a price at the ballot box, losing Quebec seats in the 2019 federal election.

Asked if he would consider blocking the new trade agreement, Legault said, “I need more information.”

“There are several possible scenarios,” he added. “We have not established yet what we will do.”

But he did say he “would do everything to defend them (Quebec dairy producers).”

Legault told reporters he had spoken to Trudeau on Tuesday.

He did not raise with Trudeau his goal of reducing Quebec’s annual share of immigrants from the current 50,000 to 40,000, but said he could bring it up when the two leaders attend the Francophonie Summit in Armenia on Oct. 11 and 12.

He explained that his goal in reducing the number of immigrants Quebec receives is to better integrate them into Quebec society, so they don’t move on to other provinces.

Legault said he wants to put more money in the pockets of Quebecers, projecting annual economies of $2.5 billion a year after waste in government spending is cut.

And he will begin the process of renegotiating what he considers an overly generous pay agreement with Quebec’s medical specialists.

The Premier designate said his priorities are education, health care and seniors.

“We will respect our commitments to Quebecers,” he said.

He promised a program to renovate Quebec’s crumbling schools, better access to family doctors and nurses, and renovations of the province’s long-term-care centres.

Legault also plans to raise the minimum age to consume marijuana to 21 from the proposed minimum of age 18.

He has also spoken to the mayors of Montreal and Quebec City, confirming his government’s commitment to transit projects. He said he conferred with Dominic LeBlanc, federal minister of intergovernmental affairs, telling him “a stronger Quebec within Canada was a win-win strategy.”

To a reporter who questioned the CAQ’s commitment to the environment, Legault said he has two grown sons.

“I work for them. I work for the next generation,” he said. “It is important to leave them a sustainable planet.”

He wants to develop urban transit projects, clean up the St. Lawrence, and make Quebec a greater exporter of clean energy, he said.

Legault repeated his willingness to use the notwithstanding clause in the Canadian Constitution to override fundamental rights, legislating a ban on displaying religious signs by authority figures, such as judges, prosecutors, law-enforcement officers and teachers.

But he said other employees in Quebec’s public sector could wear the Islamic hijab or other religious signs on the job.

And even though his CAQ won 74 seats, or 59 per cent of the 125 seats in the Quebec legislature, with just 38 per cent of the votes cast, he remains committed to introducing proportional representation in his first year in office.

Legault also said that, although the CAQ has a solid majority, he intends to work with the opposition parties in the assembly.

Legault also announced his first appointment: Yves Ouellet, a seasoned Quebec mandarin, will be secretary-general of the executive council, the province’s counterpart to Ottawa’s senior bureaucrat, the clerk of the Privy Council.