François Legault intends to launch a review of all public spending to tighten his belt and get out of the financial abyss into which he has plunged Quebec. The problem is that, contrary to what the CAQ announced before being elected in 2018, it continued to increase the size of the state.
The CAQ came to power benefiting from the full coffers left behind by Carlos Leitao and Philippe Couillard.
There was the pandemic and, as Minister Eric Girard pointed out, the “greatest recession since the Second World War” that followed.
All the same, Quebec went from a jackpot of $7 billion to the largest deficit in absolute dollars, which amounts to $11 billion.
This is a harsh blow to the pride of a government of accountants and dealmakers.
The two most nightmarish items are:
-The big financier Girard had forecast a deficit almost three times lower at $3 billion for 2024-2025;
-Even in its rather optimistic planning, there remains a structural deficit of 4 billion which it will have to eliminate, we do not know how, by 2030.
Cut where?
The documents presented Tuesday show an order placed with state companies to recover $1 billion within 5 years.
Good luck to Hydro-Québec, whose leaders recently explained that they will need to add 35,000 skilled workers to create 9,000 additional megawatts by 2035.
Quebec also announces a review of the expenditures of its departments and agencies, as well as a review of the tax system and consumption taxes.
Eric Girard, however, pledged not to raise taxes or the QST, which would amount to political suicide before the next election.
We would therefore have to cut the fat.
We have heard it a few times in recent history, notably in the vain hopes of liberal reengineering in 2003.
The same refrain.
However, there are now 78,000 full-time equivalents in the public service, and 493,000 workers in the health and education networks.
To refresh our memory, let’s think about the additions that are still multiplying:
-French Language Commissioner;
-National Student Ombudsman;
-Protector of integrity in leisure and sport;
-Institute of Excellence in Education;
-Connectivity Quebec.
There are also new agencies. For Christian Dubé, the reform comes through Santé Québec.
And it continues
Geneviève Guilbault is also preparing to launch an agency for carrying out large-scale transport projects.
This entity alone will require 50 to 60 employees, including public transportation experts and engineers hired externally.
It’s not that any of this is far-fetched. The protection of children, for example, is essential.
But why is it not possible to provide basic services with the enormous machine that already exists?
Asked about the possibility of cutting the number of civil servants, the President of the Treasury Board, Sonia LeBel, had this honest response on Tuesday, confirming that in fact, there will be on the contrary still an increase: “We must limit the growth of ‘effective’.
So you have to be realistic.
We don’t really believe in the state’s economies.
In any case, Mr. Legault and Mr. Girard were smiling brightly for the photo taken preceding the tabling of the $11 billion black hole budget.
François Legault was so satisfied with the answers from his financier who faced a barrage of questions from the opposition on Wednesday at the Salon Bleu that he could not help but give him a perfect score at the end of the exercise.
“Ten out of 10… or as the hockey players would say, 110%,” said the PM to his Minister of Finance, without knowing that hockey had brought him bad luck in 2023.