Eric Girard to present an economic statement on November 21

Photo: Jacques Boissinot The Canadian Press Finance Minister Eric Girard

The Canadian Press in Quebec City

Published at 12:35 Updated at 14:14

• Quebec City

Finance Minister Eric Girard will present an economic statement on November 21.

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He recalled in a press scrum on Wednesday that the goal of the exercise was to “provide an overview of public finances and the economy,” in addition to “responding to priority issues.”

In November 2023, the minister announced additional investments, particularly for housing, food banks, transit agencies, the fight against homelessness and climate change.

Four months later, however, he announced a record deficit of $11 billion and said he wanted to table a plan to return to a balanced budget when the next budget is published, for 2025-2026.

In order to eliminate the structural deficit, the government expects that revenue growth will have to be 1.1 percentage points higher than spending growth by 2028-2029.

Stating Wednesday that “in general, 2024 is going better than expected,” Mr. Girard also promised to make the point, on November 21, on the reassessment of tax measures, an exercise expected to generate savings of 1 billion dollars over five years.

Quebec will present its economic statement in the context where the President-elect of the United States, Donald Trump, has promised to implement several protectionist measures that could harm the Quebec economy.

Minister Girard could also choose to tackle the problems that are shaking the Direction de la protection de la jeunesse (DPJ), which have been widely reported in the media in recent weeks.