Leitão expected to loosen purse strings with budget
Liberals to cut taxes, boost health, education funding
Quebecers are in for some QUEBEC kind of a tax break Tuesday, but the government will also be re-investing in the education and healthcare systems, Finance Minister Carlos Leitão said Monday.
On the eve of presenting the province’s 2017-2018 budget — one that will show the province is swimming in surpluses — Leitão said Quebec is ready to loosen the purse strings and pay more for public services that have had to live with restrictions on their growth in recent years.
And in a budget that he said will be brimming with “confidence and optimism,” the taxpayer will not be overlooked.
“I said before there would be a lightening of the fiscal burden,” Leitão said. “We will do it within our capacity to do so, which means in a responsible way.
“There’s no point reducing taxes or spending more if it’s only for a year. What we are announcing has to be recurrent.”
Leitão made the comments at a pre-budget photo opportunity in his office in Old Quebec City. Sticking with the tradition of finance ministers, Leitão showed off a new pair of black leather dress shoes, which symbolize a fresh start.
Last year, spinning the idea the government was spending responsibly, he stuck with his old shoes but dug out a polishing kit to shine them up. This year the polishing kit was under the desk. The minister bought new ones, at Montrealbased Aldo, for $120.
Leitão said unlike previous years, Quebec’s economy is in better shape and the province’s spending is under control, which means there’s more money to work with.
To be tabled in the legislature a little after 4 p.m. Tuesday, the budget will include more money for education and health. La Presse has reported the education and higher education sectors including universities are in for a boost of $6oo million and the money will be devoted to hiring teachers and professionals.
The situation will be similar in health, with new money devoted to services, not doctors.
Quebec has already announced plans to abolish the unpopular health services tax on Jan. 1, 2017, but now will refund what people paid in the 2016 tax year. Some families could be getting as much as $350 back.
“We are doing what we said we’d do,” Leitão said in reference to Liberal election promises to re-invest after the budget was under control. “You will find confidence and optimism in tomorrow’s budget, which is justified.”
Wary of Liberal electioneering, the opposition parties were firing back.
“To repair the things they have broken, they would need to invest all the $2.3-billion surplus in recurring services,” said Parti Québécois Leader Jean-François Lisée.