Year 1 budget for a sovereign Quebec | A country “essentially zero cost” from 2027, says the PQ

(Quebec) Paul St-Pierre Plamondon sees life in blue. According to the leader of the Parti Québécois (PQ), if Quebec became a country in 2027, its financial situation would not only be “very close to a balanced budget”, but the abolition of a level of government would allow it to achieve “ significant savings”, which would improve its ability to offer better services to the population.

After months of postponements and at the end of a series of interviews which began last week with The PressMr. St-Pierre Plamondon finally unveiled his year 1 budget for a sovereign Quebec on Monday, at Laval University.

His study is divided into two parts. The first does the analysis proforma of the finances of an independent Quebec, which would make the same choices as those of Ottawa, then that of a country governed by the Parti Québécois.

“If the independence of Quebec was essentially at zero cost or proved to be slightly beneficial in year 1 from a study point of view proformathat is to say in a scenario where Quebec makes all the same choices as current Canada, it will most certainly allow the Quebec government to generate significant new savings from the first year as long as the Quebec government allows himself to make smarter financial choices,” he says.

In response to the main economic argument of his adversaries against sovereignty, the PQ leader asserts that a country of Quebec would not suffer from the end of equalization, in the context where the province receives nearly 13 billion annually from this federal program ( or rather 9.6 billion net, considering its own contribution). As he stated last week in our pages, Mr. St-Pierre Plamondon estimates that the end of the overlapping of ministries and programs between Quebec and Ottawa would lead to savings of 8.8 billion.

In addition, the PQ adds that it has “identified gains of an additional $2.1 billion,” depending on the choices it makes as government, which increases according to the party “to $10.9 billion [les] projected savings in federal departments.”

“The Parti Québécois would choose to reinvest all of these sums in two important budgetary items: education and pensions for seniors,” we can read in the budget document.

No turbulence

Galvanized by the arrival of a fourth MP out of 125 at the Salon bleu and in the scenario where Paul St-Pierre Plamondon’s party takes power in 2026, “the budgetary situation of an independent Quebec on day 1 (at the earliest , for the 2027 fiscal year) would be essentially the same as that forecast in a Quebec province, when we include the Quebec share of the federal deficit: we would be very close to budgetary balance, with slim deficits, between 4 and 6 billion dollars, in one case or the other,” argue the PQ.

“An independent Quebec will fetch $82.3 billion in new revenues that are currently captured by the federal government, which currently correspond to very few useful services to the population, while the fundamental missions of the Quebec state are [soumises] to financial pressure and historical failures,” adds the PQ in its year 1 budget.

“The economic and financial situation of the government of Quebec and Canada has evolved significantly since 2005, when François Legault published his version of the finances of a sovereign Quebec. The explosion in the size of the federal government, the fiscal imbalance among other things in health spending, the explosion of spending in areas of provincial jurisdiction, the amount of federal debt which doubled under the Liberals of Justin Trudeau, the federal government’s obstinacy in continuing to invest in fossil fuels, the refusal to comply to make efficiency gains such as with the creation of a single tax report, and many other aspects again, to name just a few,” adds Mr. St-Pierre Plamondon’s party.

According to the PQ, a limitation of their exercise is that it does not calculate “the positive impacts that will be generated by the independence of Quebec”, which puts aside the risks of economic turbulence sometimes mentioned by its adversaries. One of the gains of independence, writes the party, is the massive arrival in the Quebec region of embassies and diplomats from around the world.

“The establishment of more than 200 embassies in Quebec City, direct investments in the Quebec economy which are solely dictated by the interests of Quebec, a monetary policy aligned exclusively with the economic situation of Quebec and its interests” : the Parti Québécois assesses that “there is no doubt that an independent Quebec could not only assume the expenses of the federal government and maintain all services, but even more, it would have significant new sums at its disposal to invest them as appropriate seems to him, with only those of the Quebec people as interests and priorities.”

Lively exchanges

Last week, during heated exchanges at the Salon Bleu, the Premier of Quebec and head of the Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ), François Legault, challenged his PQ opponent to explain how many Quebecers would lose their jobs if the Quebec declared its independence.

“What he tells us is that according to him, the federal government spends too much, and that, in a sovereign Quebec, it would cut 8 billion in spending currently made by the federal government. Could he, at the same time, on Monday, tell Quebecers how many Quebecers would lose their jobs with the $8 billion cuts? », questioned François Legault, referring to the gains that the PQ intends to make by putting an end to overlapping programs and ministries.

“People, their priority is not to hold a referendum on the sovereignty of Quebec. It’s about being able to arrive, to be able to pay for their groceries, to pay their rent, to be able to get through the inflation crisis that we are currently experiencing,” added M .Legault.