Its financial framework unveiled on Wednesday in the presence of party leader Éric Duhaime and his predecessor Adrien Pouliot, who is now acting as an adviser, notably provides for significant tax cuts totaling $29 billion from 2022-2023 to 2026- 2027 and a drastic reduction in business assistance of $13 billion.
Under a Conservative government, revenues and expenditures would continue to grow due in part to normal economic growth and rising system costs. However, the measures proposed by the party would ensure to slow these increases.
Unlike the Coalition avenir Québec (CAQ), the Parti Québécois (PQ) and especially Québec solidaire (QS), the PCQ would not touch the Generations Fund, which is also proposed by the Quebec Liberal Party (PLQ).
But, unlike Dominique Anglade’s team, Éric Duhaime’s plans to return to surpluses in two years, not seven. At first timid ($934 million in 2024-2025), the budget surplus promised by the PCQ exceed $6 billion in 2026-2027.
This performance would even allow the Quebec government to bring the ratio between gross debt and GDP below the 35% mark, taking it from 42.1% to 34.3%, a more ambitious objective than those set by the other parties.
The financial framework of PCQ also plans not to touch the expenses related to COVID-19 support and recovery measures
($2.8 billion from 2022-2023 to 2024-2025) or the provision for economic risks
of $2 billion per year ($10 billion over five years) planned in the pre-election report of the Ministry of Finance.
In fact, Éric Duhaime’s party is the only one, with QSto promise to fully respect this provision, which does not appear in the financial frameworks of the QLP a you PQ. The CAQfor its part, plans to reduce it by $1 billion per year in 2025-2026 and 2026-2027.
Gigantic, the reduction in personal income tax proposed by the PCQ would involve an increase in the basic personal exemption, which would rise from $15,728 to $20,000, and a reduction of two percentage points in the first two levels.
Among the other quantified measures appearing in its financial framework, note that the party expects to lose $792 million for the current year by suspending the fuel tax of 19.2 cents per liter for five months.
He also predicts a shortfall of $5.6 billion over five years resulting from a possible increase in the tax credit for career extension for experienced workers
i.e. people aged 60 and over.
Furthermore, the elimination of QST on used goods and on equipment and physical activities would cause the public treasury to lose $1.86 billion, while tax credit for sports subscriptionshe would cost $ 240 million, calculates the party.
In return, the PCQ wishes, among other things, to gradually reduce tax assistance for businesses until they disappear completely, towards the end of the next mandate. He argues that it is not up to the government to choose the winners
and the losers
in the game of competition.
« If a project is not good, it does not deserve grants. And if a project is good, it doesn’t need subsidies. »
The party would also impose a law on government spending limits in order to save $8.9 billion by the end of the next mandate and would launch a vast deregulation project to save $7.9 billion over the same period. period.
L’addition of private health
which would imply, among other things, that the management of certain hospitals be entrusted to companies, would also allow the state to reduce its expenditure by $4.5 billion from 2024-2025 to 2026-2027, according to estimates from the PCQ.
His proposal to phase out subsidies for electric vehicles would allow the government to keep $2 billion in its coffers over five years.
Everything is in place for the debates
The PCQ is the last of the five parties represented in the National Assembly to make its financial framework public following the QLP(September 4), QS (last Friday), the CAQ (Saturday) and the PQ (mardi).
This document – which has no less than fifty pages – was presented Wednesday morning in a hotel in Laval, a few hours before the presentation of the traditional debate of Economy zonewhich will air at 5:55 p.m. Eastern Time on ICI RDI.
The Face to face of TVA, which will coincide with the mid-campaign, will take place on Thursday. For this reason, François Legault (CAQ), Dominique Anglade (QLP), Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois (QS) and Paul St-Pierre Plamondon (PQ) have not scheduled any public appearances on Wednesday.