Financial framework of the Parti Québécois | 231 million for independence

(Montreal) A Parti Québécois government would inflate spending by 29.9 billion in a first term and add new revenues to the tune of 12.3 billion, in particular by taxing the GAFAMs and the “crisis profiteers”. The political formation would spend 231 million to achieve the independence of Quebec.

Fanny Levesque
The Press

The Parti Québécois unveiled its financial framework on Tuesday, which runs from 2022-2023 to 2026-2027. Under a PQ government, the Quebec state would return to budget surpluses within two years (2023-2024) with the creation of a “tax on excess profits” that would attack companies that have garnered excessive surpluses due to recent crises.

This new tax has not yet been announced and will be unveiled in the second half of the campaign. “We are talking about certain economic sectors which are not competitive, which are in a situation of monopoly or oligopoly, which have taken advantage of inflation to steal from consumers”, indicated chef Paul St-Pierre Plamondon. The oil companies would be in the line of fire.

According to the financial framework, this new tax would add $1 billion in revenue next year (2022-2023) and $250 million the following year.

The training also plans to recover 1.8 billion in new revenues over five years (321 million in the first year) by imposing a tax on the web giants, the GAFAM, up to 3% of their Quebec turnover.

The PQ plans to recover revenues of 1.1 billion by ending the incorporation of doctors (about 220 million per year).

The Parti Québécois foresees a return to a balanced budget in four years, in 2025-2026. It will revert to a red-inked budget in the fifth year with an estimated budget shortfall of $518 million due to massive investments planned in the shift to home care.

This shift makes it one of the most costly expenditures of the PQ’s commitments with new investments of 7.7 billion over five years. Paul St-Pierre Plamondon announced at the start of the campaign that a PQ government would gradually increase the supply of home care by eventually injecting $3 billion into it.

The Parti Québécois climate plan, which plans in particular to double the supply of public transport in Quebec, would add $1.5 billion in expenditure per year to the Quebec state until 2026-2027. The “climate pass” which would offer unlimited access to public transport would cost 180 million in the first year.

To carry out its “just transition”, which plans to requalify workers and support businesses in their greening, the PQ would spend one billion a year until 2026-2027, which it finances by drawing on the Generations Fund, which would have as an effect of reducing payments.

The entire economic and green transition of the PQ would cost a total of 11 billion over four years (2.8 billion per year on average).

The PQ has also promised a tax exemption on the last $35,000 of income for people aged 60 and over in order to encourage them to stay in the labor market. This measure would deprive the State of 8 billion over five years, but the political formation estimates that it would bring in additional income with the return of these experienced workers (9.6 billion over five years).

231 million for independence

Paul St-Pierre Plamondon has pledged to hold a referendum on independence in a first term of a Parti Québécois government. According to the financial framework, “the preparation for independence” will lead to expenditure starting next year with an investment of 75 million.

This amount will reach 77 million in 2024-2025 and 79 million the following year for a total of 231 million over three years. These sums would be used for “economic and social preparation for the eventuality of the advent of a country” and for carrying out studies on the legal framework, the currency or the army, for example.

“It’s not done on the corner of the table, it’s a question of responsibility […] On day 1 of a new country, things must be in place, investments must have been considered, as must the message that must be sent to international markets,” explained the PQ leader. Although the investments are planned until the end of a first mandate, a referendum could come before four years.

This is much less than Quebec solidaire, which would spend half a billion to prepare for sovereignty. The QS proposal, however, is different since it provides for the creation of a Constituent Assembly that would draft the constitution of a future country.

The financial framework of the Parti Québécois was approved by the professor of the economics department of the University of Ottawa, Paul Makdissi.