After hinting for weeks that Quebec’s financial situation was weak, Eric Girard tabled a $158-billion budget on Tuesday with an $11-billion deficit and a delay of his timeline to balance the books.
The province’s real GDP — adjusted for inflation — grew by 0.2 per cent in 2023, and the budget predicts it will increase by 0.6 per cent in 2024 and by 1.6 per cent in 2025. As well, Girard said, strikes in the public sector — which for weeks last year shut down schools and delayed surgeries — resulted in salary increases that added $3 billion in annual expenses.
The $11-billion figure includes a $1.5-billion contingency reserve and a $2.2-billion, legally required transfer into a fund dedicated to reducing debt. That plan includes savings of $1 billion by reducing corporate subsidies, including by changing the wage-based tax credit for jobs in the IT and video game sectors. The new rules lift caps on the amount of salary eligible for the tax credits, which will be targeted more toward “highly specialized well-paying jobs” in those industries, the budget says.
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