According to Mr. Girard, the chances of a recession are still there, but the economic situation in Quebec at the beginning of the year “is better than we expected”.

“It’s always going to be a difficult year because there have been significant hikes in interest rates and that affects individuals and companies, but nonetheless the start of the year is stronger than expected and that’s positive. It reduces the likelihood of a recession a little, at least it delays it,” the finance minister said during a brief scuffle with the press in Parliament.

Eric Girard also pointed out that inflation in the country is behaving “as the Bank of Canada expects”, meaning it is declining while the central bank hiked interest rates again by 0.25 percentage points to 4.50%.

In January, inflation in Canada was 5.9%. Last June, it reached an annual high of 8.1%. “There is a need for further rate hikes [donc] less likely,” Minister Girard said.

The opposition in Quebec has also begun to make its demands known. Québec solidaire calls for the establishment of an emergency fund for public transport, specifically the Société de transports du Québec, a “massive” investment for social housing. The left formation is calling on the Legault government to abandon its promise of a tax cut in exchange for doubling the solidarity tax credit. The Quebec Liberal Party is already urging the Legault government not to cut “payments to the Generations Fund” for its tax cuts.

Mayors set their priorities

In Montreal, Valérie Plante, who is due to meet Mr Girard soon, said on Wednesday that her two priorities for the next Quebec budget are to secure significant funding for “the two current crises”, public transport funding and housing .

“In the transport sector, a solution must be found in the short term to the deficit of the STM, which is directly related to the decline in visitor numbers caused by the pandemic. It’s not related to reasons of mismanagement or election,” pounded M^Me Attachment. On the housing side, “the government has to come to the rescue because we’re seeing a lot of data coming out that people can’t find housing, both in terms of social and affordable housing,” she said.

In Québec City, Mayor Bruno Marchand also called for additional funds for these two sectors in particular, in addition to combating homelessness and labor shortages.

For its part, the Association of Municipalities (UMQ) calls on Quebec, among other things, to “increase financial assistance programs for municipal infrastructure by around 30%”, the payment “$1.8 billion for social and affordable housing” announced in the campaign, and 125 Million dollars over five years “for innovative projects on the commercial vitality of city centers”. Public transport needs are also estimated at 570 million to ensure “maintaining the same overall level of service” in 2024.

“Inflation is high and persistent, which has a direct impact on our finances. […] All this in a context where our income does not follow, “illustrated last week the Mayor of Gaspé and President of the UMQ, Daniel Côté.

Keep in mind that the main functions of the state have seen continued spending growth over the past year. They then achieved growth of 6.3% in health and social services, 5.4% in education, of which 13.1% in higher education.

The 2022-2032 Quebec Infrastructure Plan (PQI) was also increased by $7.5 billion. Quebec then recalled that for the past four years, the PQI “has increased every year from $100.4 billion in March 2018 to $142.5 billion in March 2022.”

With Fanny Levesque