This text is taken from Courrier de l’économie. Click here to subscribe.
One week to the day after the tabling of the Quebec government’s budget, it’s up to Ottawa to lend itself to the exercise. Federal Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland has already given some clues about the content of the next budget document that she will table on Tuesday. Here are a few things to watch out for.
Green economy
The budget should contain measures to try to counterbalance the famous Inflation Reduction Act of the United States, which contains hundreds of billions of dollars in investments for clean technologies, particularly in the sector of batteries and electric vehicles — and which therefore poses a threat to Canada’s competitiveness in this area.
Among other things, the federal government is poised to carve out a bigger role in electricity policy, committing to new spending to help modernize the country’s power grids and expand their capacity, the government has learned. Globe and Mail.
Targeted aid for the less fortunate
In the current economic context, which Chrystia Freeland describes as a “turbulent period”, the government will be careful not to “throw oil on the fire” of inflation, she warned in a press briefing. last week. However, “targeted” assistance is to be expected.
According to information from CBC News, the federal budget would include a “grocery assistance” measure for low-income Canadians, thanks to the GST credit. The overall cost of this measure is expected to be over $2 billion and would benefit 11 million households.
Health
The federal budget should reflect the recent agreements reached with the provinces on health transfers. In February, Ottawa announced it would spend $198.6 billion over the next decade on health — including $46.2 billion in new funding.
The federal government has also warned that it intends to cut $76 million from seven provinces which it accuses of billing for diagnostic health imaging services, including $42 million in Quebec.