The Minister of Finance recently launched the annual consultation process surrounding the development of Quebec’s next budget. The fruit of Minister Eric Girard’s work will be revealed next March, but we can now raise significant concerns about the consultation process itself.
One fact is obvious: the minister is seeking the opinions of those who have a good chance of agreeing with him. This is what he has done in recent months by asking for the opinions, in the form of briefs, of a select group of economists. Among them are of course eminent university researchers whose work sheds relevant light on the work of budgetary planning. However, there are also, very disproportionately, economists associated with financial institutions or research organizations whose biases favorable to them are obvious.
This could be understood and explained if, at the same time, the minister obtained information from more varied and representative sources, but this is not the case. He seems to be satisfied with a partial portrait, strongly influenced by the interests of banks and the business world, and not with a social dialogue worthy of the name.
For example, it is increasingly difficult to meet the minister, or a member of his team, during the budget consultation process. To requests for meetings from civil society groups, the argument of lack of time, forcing us to restrict the list of organizations met for the preparation of the budget, comes up more and more often, like a judgment from which we cannot make call.
Worse, public consultations are resolutely oriented, invariably, to confirm government priorities. This is not new, the consultations accessible on the ministry’s web page have never stood out for their openness to ideas and debates. Furthermore, this year, it is no longer even possible to deviate from the established path by using, for example, a “other considerations” box in order to make a slightly discordant sound of bells be heard.
We are asked, in particular, what the government’s priorities should be in the next budget. Seven possible answers follow, all of which are in line with what the government already says it wants to do. We ask, for example, whether Quebec should reduce the tax burden on Quebecers. Impossible to answer that on the contrary, he should work to increase the tax contributions of the richest and businesses. We are also offered the option of improving Quebec’s economic potential in order to revive the economy in a sustainable manner, but it is impossible to tell the minister that a sustainable recovery first requires a fight against inequalities. However, several progressive tax measures would bring billions to public finances…
If the government was elected to govern, it was not elected to ignore opinions that disagree with its own. Let us not forget that more than half of voters did not vote for the Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ) which, however, claims to govern in their name today. The least we could do would be to set up consultations worthy of the name, if only so that the diversity of ideas and opinions can be expressed and taken into account.
Currently, the government does not even bother to hear from everyone and then decide. From the start, he excludes those who do not think like him.
*Co-signed this letter: Réjean Leclerc, president, FSSS-CSN; Véronique Laflamme, spokesperson, FRAPRU; Benoît Lacoursière, general secretary and treasurer, National Federation of Teachers of Quebec – CSN; Stéphanie Vallée, president, Table of provincial groupings of community and voluntary organizations; Patricia Chartier, coordinator, Coalition of Regional Tables of Community Organizations (CTROC); Patrick Bydal, vice-president for political life, Autonomous Education Federation; Christian Daigle, general president of the Quebec Public and Parapublic Service Union (SFPQ); Marie-Line Audet, general director, National Table of Community Development Corporations (TNCDC); Vanessa Massie, president of L’R des centers de femmes du Québec; Claude Vaillancourt, president, Attac-Québec; Dominique Daigneault, president, Central Council of Metropolitan Montreal – CSN; Marianita Hamel, co-coordinator, Solidarité populaire Estrie; Mariepier Dufour, general director, Federation of Associations of Single-Parent and Blended Families of Quebec; Maud Provost, community organization, Women’s Action Network in Health and Social Services (RAFSSS); Steve Baird, community organizer, Common Front of People on Social Assistance in Quebec; Marie-Christine Latte, coordinator, Popular Organization for Social Rights; Jean Trudelle, president, Standing for School; Marie-Andrée Painchaud-Mathieu, coordinator, Intersectoral Regroupment of Community Organizations of Montreal (RIOCM); Louis-Frédéric Verrault-Giroux, mobilization and communications agent, TROVEP de Montréal; Joanne Blais, director, Mauricie Women’s Movement Consultation Table (TCMFM); Marie-Eve Surprenant, coordinator, Laval consultation table on the status of women; Élise Landriault-Dupont, co-coordinator of the associative life and team life aspects, Regroupement des groups de femmes de la Capitale-Nationale region – RGF-CN; Karine Verreault, general director, ROC 03; Joée Deschênes, consultation agent, Center-du-Québec Women’s Movement Concertation Table (TCMFCQ); Gisèle Dallaire, coordinator of RÉCIF 02; Isabelle Thibault, general co-coordinator, Laurentides Women’s Network; Joanne Blais, director, Mauricie Women’s Movement Consultation Table (TCMFM); Martin Leclerc, sociopolitical representative, Alliance of Professors of Montreal (APPM).