Parti Québécois promises $6.6B bureaucracy cuts and balanced budget by 2028-29

The Parti Québécois unveiled its fiscal framework Tuesday, proposing to reduce bureaucratic spending by $6.6 billion and balance Quebec's budget by 2028-29.

Paul St-Pierre Plamondon was absent from the announcement, preparing for the election debate that night. The party's economic team and candidates led the presentation. The PQ says it could eliminate the deficit a year ahead of the timeline required under Quebec's Balanced Budget Act.

The plan would redirect government spending toward health care, education and public safety, while including measures aimed at easing the cost of living. The party says its proposals would boost Quebec's GDP growth by 0.25 per cent annually in the long run and generate new yearly revenues for the public treasury of around $700 million. The total cost of the PQ's proposals in this campaign represents approximately $6.5 billion in new spending over four years.

Several proposals could be implemented without additional spending by reprioritizing existing funds and cutting bureaucracy. The framework would preserve payments to the Generations Fund and maintain $5 billion in contingency provisions.

Nicolas Marceau, PQ candidate for Marie-Victorin, attacked the current government's fiscal record: "We were promised a government of accountants. Instead, we ended up with a government that doesn't know how to count. Under the Legault-Fréchette team, Quebec's debt has risen by 30 per cent, leading to a downgrade in our credit rating—a first in three decades."

Standard and Poor's lowered Quebec's credit rating from AA- to A+ in mid-April.