(Quebec) For the first time since the start of the pandemic two years ago, all the deputies will meet in the Blue Room of the National Assembly starting this Tuesday. This is the end of the restrictions on the number of elected representatives present in the Chamber. The rise in the cost of living, the end of the state of health emergency and the “refoundation” of the health system will be at the center of the debates on the occasion of this resumption of the parliamentary session, the last before the general elections. of October 3.
Posted at 5:00 a.m.
The Legault government has already telegraphed its intentions to counter the effects of inflation. Its March 22 budget will provide for the payment of direct assistance, a “fixed amount” which will be given to “everyone”, as Prime Minister François Legault said last week.
PHOTO JACQUES BOISSINOT, CANADIAN PRESS ARCHIVES
François Legault, Premier of Quebec
Under its fall economic update, Quebec had already distributed checks of $200 to $275 to the 3.3 million people earning less than $54,000 at the start of the year to help them in the face of soaring inflation. It will go further and reach more people this time.
It is obvious that as the election draws near, a government tables an electoral budget. Prime Minister Philippe Couillard did so in 2018. And like him, François Legault denies having the ballot in mind when preparing the last budget of his term. “I told all members of the government that I did not want an electoral budget,” he wrote on his Facebook page.
No question of having, in an election year, a firework of new expenditures, like other governments before us.
François Legault, in a post on his Facebook page
The fact remains that his decision last year to postpone the return to a balanced budget for seven years means that the time to make difficult choices to get out of the hole will come after the elections. Thus, for the March 22 budget, Quebec forecasts a significant increase in departmental spending of 4.5%, if we rely on the fall economic update.
Good news for the government: public finances show a surplus of $1.5 billion after eight months of the fiscal year, due to the performance of the Québec economy. Despite everything, the government maintains, for the moment, that the deficit will reach 6.8 billion, due to the effects of the confinement at the start of the year and a large part of the expenditure which has not yet been accounted for. But it would not be surprising if this deficit were revised downwards.
The opposition makes its proposals
The opposition parties are all in favor of giving taxpayers a breath of fresh air in the budget. It is on the means that we do not agree.
The Liberal Party of Quebec (PLQ) is campaigning for a freeze on hydroelectricity rates, at a time when Hydro-Quebec announced a 2.6% increase as of 1er April and that a 5% increase is expected next year. Its rates keep pace with inflation under a law the Legault government passed under gag order.
The PLQ also suggests removing the QST on “basic necessities” products, such as toothpaste, body soap, shampoo and over-the-counter medications.
For its part, Québec solidaire is calling for the solidarity tax credit – which helps low-income households – to be doubled, to temporarily freeze rents, to cancel the Hydro-Québec rate hike and to increase minimum wage at $18 an hour.
The Parti Québécois intends to table a bill to freeze the rates of all state corporations, not only Hydro-Québec, but also the Société des alcools du Québec and the Société des traversiers.
Finally, the Conservative Party of Quebec wants the government to suspend the application of the QST on gasoline.
The Legault government has shown no interest in the opposition’s proposals. It rejects any rate freeze or tax reduction, favoring direct aid.
“Generally, when the rates are frozen, there is a rate jump afterwards and history has shown that this was not a good practice”, supports the Minister of Finance, Eric Girard. As for the freezing of hydroelectricity rates, “the bigger the house, the richer you are, the more you would benefit” from this measure, replies François Legault.
Health, an essential subject
Health will once again be at the heart of discussions at the National Assembly over the coming weeks. After promising the “overhaul” of the health system, the Minister of Health and Social Services, Christian Dubé, wanted to reduce expectations by saying that “there will be no great discoveries” in his “Health Plan expected at the end of the month. Among other things, it is counting on the reorganization of work in establishments, the decompartmentalization of professions and better access to data – access which would be possible thanks to a bill already tabled.
But before this Health Plan, Quebec will table, probably on Wednesday, its bill allowing it to retain certain exceptional powers and aimed at ending the state of health emergency.
With this legislative text, the government wants to keep at its disposal a “minimum” of powers “without being obliged to declare a health emergency” to exercise them, explained the chief of staff of Mr. Legault, Martin Koskinen, in an interview with The Press two weeks ago. This involves, for example, being able to pay bonuses to health care workers that are not provided for in collective agreements, imposing the wearing of masks on public transport, moving staff to carry out screening tests or vaccination, as well as maintaining over-the-counter contracts “already signed”. Quebec thus intends to give itself “flexibility and means to prepare for a possible sixth wave while ensuring that people cannot perceive this as an abuse of power”.
Opposition parties will be watching the government. According to them, there is no longer any reason to maintain the state of health emergency which, they deplore, has been renewed by decrees for two years rather than by a vote of the National Assembly.