Legault tries to put $11 billion deficit into perspective
Posted March 13, 2024 2:22 pm.
Quebec Premier François Legault tried to put the province’s $11 billion deficit into perspective on Wednesday.
On Tuesday, Quebec Finance Minister Éric Girard announced that the shortfall for the year 2024-2025 exceeded $10 billion.
In a press scrum at the National Assembly, Legault said that the announced deficit is equivalent to 1.5 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP).
“We have to take into consideration the inflation,” he said. “I didn’t know would have a pandemic and that we’ll have a slowdown with the economy.”
Seen from this angle, it’s not as bad as some previous deficits, he claimed.
In the past, three Parti Québécois (PQ) governments ran deficits of 1.7 per cent, 3.8 per cent and 4.7 per cent of GDP, and two Quebec Liberal Party (PLQ) governments generated deficits of 3.1 per cent and 3.3 per cent.
“One and a half percent of GDP, I think that’s something reasonable,” he argued.
The premier also maintained that the real figure is not $11 billion, but $8.8 billion, because payments to the Generations Fund should not be taken into consideration.
—This report by La Presse Canadienne was translated by CityNews.
