The big cleaning, a known refrain

The review of state programs and spending launched by the Legault government has an air of déjà vu. All administrations over the past 40 years have wanted to do a major cleanup, often in the hope of erasing budget deficits. With mixed results.

The State-Provigo

As elsewhere in the West, Quebec questioned the role of the State in the 1980s, under Robert Bourassa. To replace the welfare state, we propose the “Provigo State” – named after the president of the Treasury Board, Paul Gobeil, former boss of the grocery chain. In 1986, he proposed eliminating approximately half of the 200 state organizations such as the BAPE, the Commission on the Protection of Agricultural Land and the Régie du logement. Another report, signed by the Minister for Privatization, Pierre Fortier, suggests privatizing state companies such as SEPAQ, Radio-Québec (today Télé-Québec) and the Société Générale de Financement (which will ultimately be merged at Investissement Québec in 2010). We are calling into question public monopolies like that of Hydro-Québec. The vast majority of recommendations remain a dead letter.

“Living within our means”

In 1993, the President of the Treasury Board, Daniel Johnson (son), and the Minister of Finance, Gérard D. Lévesque, published the report Living within our means. “In the wake of the Quiet Revolution, Quebec provided itself with services which, since they reached their cruising speed, have led to a structural growth in expenditure that is difficult to contain and higher than that of income,” they write. they. We want to curb spending and reduce the size of the state. But a few months later, the government decided instead to introduce a retroactive personal income tax. Having become Prime Minister, and on the eve of the elections, Daniel Johnson increases spending more than promised.

The peak of zero deficit

In 1996, Prime Minister Lucien Bouchard organized a socio-economic summit to reach a consensus on achieving a zero deficit. It compresses spending by 4% in one year and limits their growth thereafter. A retirement program is leading to a massive departure of employees, much larger than expected, particularly in the health and education networks. Quebec adopts the Act on the return to balanced budgetwhich has since forced every government to have a plan to get out of the hole.

Aborted slimming treatment

Under Bernard Landry, the president of the Treasury Board, Joseph Facal, recommended a slimming treatment for the bureaucratic apparatus: halving the number of ministries and abolishing or merging around sixty organizations. The government rejects its report which will not be made public; however, the document is leaked. The context is important: the 2003 general elections are approaching… Mr. Facal leaves political life a month before the start of the campaign.

The “reengineering” of the State

As soon as he came to power in 2003, Jean Charest wanted to review the Quebec model. He undertakes the “reengineering” of the State. The president of the Treasury Board, Monique Jérôme-Forget, however, presents a less ambitious game plan than expected. Almost all of the 275 organizations listed were ultimately spared, a few empty shells were eliminated and the only important organization destined to disappear finally escaped the ax (the Quebec Municipal Commission). The only significant measure implemented is the replacement of one in two civil servants who retire. A special law imposes a two-year salary freeze on state employees, then four annual increases of 2%. The Charest government makes a decision that will have a significant impact: the creation of the Generations Fund, which is used to reduce the burden of the debt.

“Cultural Revolution”

A “cultural revolution” is necessary to regain budgetary balance, declared Finance Minister Raymond Bachand in 2010. According to him, everyone must pay their “fair share” of public services. This led in particular to the announcement of an increase in tuition fees which triggered a crisis, the famous “maple spring” of 2012. The Charest government introduced a “health tax”, increased the QST and the gas tax.

Cuts and tax increases

During its short reign, the Marois government struggled with a larger deficit than expected. It seeks to curb the growth of spending, which leads to cuts in social assistance, CPEs, school boards and universities in particular. It increases taxes on taxpayers earning more than $100,000 per year. He broke a taboo in the Parti Québécois by announcing an increase in the price in CPEs, frozen for ten years – a measure which will be reviewed by the next government. The Treasury Board is preparing a plan to reduce spending by nearly two billion per year, a plan nicknamed the “list of horrors” and providing, among other things, for a reduction in the basket of services covered by health insurance. The government is not making any decisions about this plan.

The label of austerity

The label will stick to the skin of the liberals. The slimming regime established by the Couillard government at the start of its mandate is compared to “austerity”. The Liberals limit spending growth to 1.6% then 0.3% annually. They decree a hiring freeze and a 2% reduction in the civil service workforce, an operation which will be temporary. A report commissioned from economic experts Luc Godbout and Claude Montmarquette suggests in particular a freezing of the payroll and a partial privatization of Hydro-Québec, but the government refuses to take this path. The recommendations of the Godbout report on taxation – raising the QST in return for a tax cut, for example – and the report of former minister Lucienne Robillard on the review of programs – such as the end of the SAQ monopoly – are mostly discarded.