(Québec) Initialement promis pour la fête nationale l’an dernier, le Parti québécois (PQ) s’apprête finalement à faire « une annonce » concernant son budget de l’an 1, c’est-à-dire le portrait des finances d’un Québec souverain, lors de son congrès le 11 mars.
Le chef péquiste Paul St-Pierre Plamondon en a fait l’annonce mardi lors d’une mêlée de presse au Parlement. Il a également précisé que ce budget, dont le dernier avait été réalisé par son parti en 2005 sous la plume de l’actuel premier ministre François Legault, présentera deux portraits des finances publiques.
« On fera un exercice pro forma, mais [qui] will then be paired with an independent Quebec exercise as it will be put in place by the Parti Québécois,” he said.
More specifically, a pro forma exercise consists of establishing the budget of independent Quebec “if we made exactly the same choices” as the current federal government in terms of public and fiscal policies. The second exercise will be to present the finances of a Quebec governed by the Parti Québécois, according to its priorities.
In the last budget of year 1, presented by the PQ more than 15 years ago, François Legault estimated that the finances of a sovereign Quebec would be viable and that the gains of sovereignty would amount to 17 billion over five years. . During the last election campaign, Mr. Legault ironically stated that he was “very anxious” to see this budget update in the context where “Quebec was receiving $4 billion a year in equalization” in 2005, while it now receives 13 billion a year.