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MONTREAL — If economic conservatives are looking for the great right-wing hope in Quebec’s election campaign, they may have to shift their gaze a little to the left.

The Coalition Avenir Quebec — headed by millionaire businessman Francois Legault — has billed itself the champion of small businesses and defender of the province’s entrepreneurial spirit.

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But in the party’s platform, plans to slash taxes sit alongside a promise to prevent foreign takeovers. The benefits of risk-taking are vaunted, right next to a pledge that a CAQ government will play a bigger role in protecting business.

For an ostensibly fiscal-conservative party, its policies leave some economists wondering what it has against the free market.

After reading through the CAQ’s platform, Laval University economist Stephen Gordon described it as “pork piled upon pork.”

“It’s basically a businessman’s wish list,” he said.