Quebec Finance Minister Eric Girard responds to reporters questions on the eve of his budget speech, Monday, March 9, 2020, in Quebec City.Quebec presented a sixth straight balanced budget Tuesday that relies on a robust and optimistic economic growth projection of 2 per cent for 2020.Revenue projects to grow by 2.8 per cent, with no new major tax increases or cuts.
The Quebec government will boost program spending and plans to pour billions of dollars into improving schools, hospitals and transit lines, according to a budget unveiled Tuesday that was written anticipating good times ahead. Mr. Girard said extra money would be available if the COVID-19 outbreak strikes Quebec in a major way. He declined to say if he would allow the budget to go into deficit.
Carlos Leitao, the Quebec Liberal finance critic, said government projections are too optimistic. The plan pushes at least half of new spending beyond the government’s mandate and demonstrates a lack of urgency, he said. Environmentalists criticized Premier François Legault during his 2018 election campaign and since because his party lacked a detailed climate change plan. The government put the plans to spend on public transit and other green initiatives, promising to hit the greenhouse gas emissions reduction target of 37.5 per cent by 2030.
“This is not a green budget,” said Manon Massé of the left-wing Quebec Solidaire. “This is an accounting exercise in greenwashing. The targets are modest, the sums are minimal, many of them are not new, many reach beyond the government’s mandate.”
Mandatory hand washing before getting into schools, libraries, buildings, vaporise métros and other public places.
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