6.7 billion “small” deficit in Quebec

Despite the health crisis and the financial crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, Finance Minister Eric Girard, Before transferring the money to the Generations Fund, just 7 6.7 billion, the budget deficit of 2020-21 ends with a budget deficit..

Why can I say “only”? This is because in the summer of 2020 it was $ 8.3 billion less than Minister Girard estimated the deficit during his 2020-21 budget revision. From April to June the Quebec economy was hit hard by the pandemic, with government treasurer Legalt heading towards the $ 15 billion hole in Quebec at the time.

Last November, Minister Girard was somewhat optimistic about revising the deficit to $ 12.3 billion for 2020-21.

Then, when tabling its 2021-22 budget on March 25, it continued its estimate at $ 12 billion less dust for the 2020-21 fiscal year deficit. I had had many weeks before the deficit (before the money was transferred to the Generations Fund).

As the Quebec economy recovers, I wrote in my March 9 column, “Is the Quebec Deficit Less Than Expected?” Minister Girard will succeed in closing the fiscal year 2020-2021 with a much lower deficit than his expectations in the November 2020 update.

I wrote that the deficit would increase to $ 8.3 billion “in the worst case”.

Finally, the budget deficit for the pandemic year will be $ 6.7 billion, or 2.2 times lower than the finance minister’s budget estimates for the summer of 2020, according to the latest figures from Minister Girard.

Note that by adding revenue payments dedicated to the Generations Fund, i.e. 3.3.3 billion, the budget balance will increase to 10 billion in the sense of balanced budget law.

The Minister congratulates himself

“The results are better than expected … This improvement is due to the strength of the economic recovery supported by our economic recovery efforts and our relief efforts aimed at our businesses and Quebecs,” Girard explained.

“During the year, the government implemented a total of $ 13.4 billion worth of initiatives to support the economy in the event of an epidemic and health emergency, and to support the health system and Quebecs.”

Not a word about federal aid

In fact, the $ 13.4 billion initiative of the Legal government to save the Quebec economy from disaster has contributed a lot.

Let us give a little thanks to the government of Justin Trudeau who provided hundreds of billions of dollars in financial assistance to individuals and businesses during the coronavirus epidemic.

Canadian Emergency Benefit, Emergency Grant.

This is three times more than the regional assistance granted by the Legalt government.

Despite the financial crisis caused by these federal aid programs, Quebec levied a personal income tax on the Legalt government in 2020-21, as it had in the previous fiscal year. More regional corporate income tax than he levied this pandemic year.

Let’s get back to what Trudeau deserves in the Legalt government budget recovery!