Even before launching its own spending review, the Legault government decides that state corporations will have to make an effort of $1 billion to help it regain budget balance.
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“All state-owned companies will be involved,” Finance Minister Eric Girard declared Tuesday, before naming them: Hydro-Québec, Investissement Québec, the SAQ, the SQDC and Loto-Québec.
“Each company will have to make an effort to be more efficient, either in revenues or in expenses,” he added.
Quebec expects state corporations to generate savings of $100 million in 2025-2026, $200 million in 2026-2027, $300 million in 2027-2028 and $400 million in 2028-2029 .
One more order for Hydro
We can expect that Hydro-Québec, the most profitable of all state-owned companies, will be called upon to make the largest contribution.
However, the electricity giant currently has its hands full with an ambitious investment program of several tens of billions of dollars to improve its reliability and increase its production.
Quebec forecasts that revenues from state corporations will reach $5.2 billion during the fiscal year ending March 31, or 22% less than in 2022-2023.
The decline is mainly explained by the fall in Hydro’s profits, which results from a drop in exports due to the lack of rain in Northern Quebec last summer.
The government expects that the amounts it will receive from state corporations will reach $5.4 billion in 2024-2025 and nearly $6.3 billion in 2025-2026 (including “efficiencies” of 100 million $).