(Quebec) Éric Duhaime would like his law to limit government spending to be as restrictive as possible. However, he did not specify on Friday what the mechanism would be to force governments to respect it.
Posted at 4:49 p.m.
It would be up to voters to ask questions of politicians who would be “forced to explain why they are breaking the law”, he replied.
The leader of the Conservative Party of Quebec proposes to find a dollar of savings for each new dollar spent before increasing the debt and taxes. It would allow some leeway for the government if a crisis, such as a natural disaster or a pandemic, forced it to loosen the purse strings.
There would be no other exclusions. “The more exceptions we make, the more possible abuse there is. The idea is really that it be binding for the political class, he explained. It’s not to give them leeway. »
In the event of a budget surplus, the amounts released would be used to repay the debt and not to add new expenses to the budget. “The rise in interest rates could have a very negative impact on the public finances of the Government of Quebec,” argued Éric Duhaime. […] If we have a surplus, it might not actually be a bad idea to put that aside and start repaying our debts. »