(Gaspé) Quebecers strangled by the rising cost of living will have to wait: the CAQ government believes that it has done enough to help them so far.
Posted at 2:54 p.m.
Prime Minister François Legault nevertheless suggested on Wednesday that other efforts should eventually be made to safeguard the purchasing power of taxpayers, in this period of galloping inflation.
“We have done enough so far,” he said at a press conference in English in Gaspé, as part of a tour of eastern Quebec.
However, he acknowledged that the wallets of Quebecers are “very affected” by inflation in the food, housing and gas sectors.
“So we have to continue to help,” added the CAQ leader, suggesting that other measures could follow.
They would, however, be presented during the election campaign next fall, as commitments, as he seemed to suggest, because he expects all parties to present proposals relating to the power of purchase.
The Prime Minister recalled that in the budget tabled last month, the government granted $500 to all taxpayers with an annual income of less than $100,000 who were going to file a tax return.
He also pointed out that in January, the CAQ government granted $200 to each taxpayer earning less than $50,000 a year.
A refundable tax credit of $200 has also been granted to people aged 70 and over, he noted.
Canada’s consumer price index jumped 6.7% in March, up 1 percentage point from February, Statistics Canada reported on Wednesday. This is the largest increase in inflation in the country for more than 30 years, January 1991.