‘A tax cut would have had a greater impact’: Quebec budget

The Legault government tabled its 2025-2026 budget on Tuesday. The Canadian Press reported several reactions to the unveiling of Quebec’s budget.

Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB)

“Given the magnitude of this crisis, the government must take strong action and reduce the barriers hindering the productivity of SMEs. The CFIB notes that it is taking a new direction, because, compared to the last two years, SMEs are on the agenda (…) The 2025-2028 SME plan is an encouraging direction that we will monitor closely. However, we are still the province with the heaviest and most unfair taxes in the country for small businesses.” — François Vincent, Vice-President for Quebec at the CFIB

Quebec Federation of Chambers of Commerce (FCCQ)

“In the context of tariff uncertainty, the increased tax measures for businesses sends a signal that the government wants to encourage businesses to invest here, while the majority of projects are on hold (…) Public contracting rules must be reviewed so that our regional businesses have access to the $11 billion invested in our infrastructure. Furthermore, we must allow businesses to retain the temporary foreign workers they need to keep the economy going.” — Véronique Proulx, President and CEO of the FCCQ

Quebec Young Chambers of Commerce Association (RJCCQ)

“The tariff environment has prompted the Quebec government to implement targeted emergency measures that seem adapted to various challenges facing our businesses. However, a tax cut would have had a greater impact on our SMEs. This must also not cause us to lose sight of the structural issues that threaten our economy in the long term, such as entrepreneurship or low productivity.” — Pierre Graff, President and CEO of the RJCCQ

Chamber of Commerce of Metropolitan Montreal (CCMM)

“We welcome Minister Girard’s approach to accelerating the amortization of investments in innovation and productivity, which will encourage businesses to invest while protecting their liquidity. We also welcome the decision to maintain a trajectory toward a balanced budget within five years, even though we are well aware that a further deterioration in the business environment could force the government to adjust this target.” — Michel Leblanc, President and CEO of the CCMM

Montreal Metropolitan Community (CMM)

“I applaud the Quebec government’s commitment to supporting our entrepreneurs and helping to maintain the economic vitality of the metropolitan region. However, the budget ignores major issues that are central to the metropolitan region’s economic vitality and directly affect the population’s quality of life: public transit, housing, the region’s resilience to the climate crisis, and the response to the vulnerability crisis, which affects all cities.” — Valérie Plante, Mayor of Montreal and President of the Communauté métropolitaine de Montréal

Trajectoire Québec

“The Quebec government is always trying to catch up with Ontario, but this budget will instead exacerbate this gap to our disadvantage. While Ontario invests 70% of its transportation budget in public transit, Quebec is the opposite, investing 70% in the road network compared to only 30% in public transit. » — Philippe Jacques, Co-Executive Director and Spokesperson for Trajectoire Québec

Autonomous Federation of Education (FAE)

“The budget presented to us today jeopardizes the maintenance of current services; CSSs will have to cut back in several areas to comply with government restrictions. It is unthinkable that this will not have an impact on the services provided to students, thereby increasing the workload of teachers.” — Mélanie Hubert, President of the FAE

“Our university administration will have to redouble its efforts to provide the quality our student community has a right to expect, while maintaining our goal of a balanced budget. But, clearly, the government is making things difficult for us. The UdeS finds itself penalized despite its remarkable performance in recent years.” — Professor Denyse Rémillard, Associate Rector and Vice-Rector of Administration and Sustainable Development at the Université de Sherbrooke

Collège des médecins du Québec

“The Collège des médecins du Québec acknowledges the $1.2 billion allocated in the Girard budget and the $300 million recovered by Santé Québec to end the $1.5 billion cuts to the Health and Social Services network. (…) The increase of only 3 per cent this year and 2 per cent next year in the health budget amounts, at best, to a funding freeze. This is of great concern to us.” — Collège des médecins du Québec (source: Bluesky)

Fédération des médecins spécialistes du Québec (FMSQ)

“What the government is telling us today is not only that it refuses to provide more funding to the healthcare system so that it can recover and address the challenges it faces, but that it even refuses to provide the necessary resources to maintain at least the same level of funding (…) With this budget, the government is only worsening a situation for which patients have already been paying the price for too long.” — Dr. Vincent Oliva, President of the FMSQ

Association of Pharmacists of Health Institutions of Quebec (A.P.E.S.)

“The 2025 budget tabled by the Quebec government today does not address the specific needs of this key sector of the healthcare network or the needs of patients (…) In light of the 2025 budget, the government still does not seem to want to address the urgent need to invest in modernizing technological infrastructure or promote the role of institutional pharmacists (…) We must stop simply watching drug spending grow.” — Linda Vaillant, pharmacist and Executive Director of the A.P.E.S.

Alliance of Professional and Technical Personnel in Health and Social Services (APTS)

“We are short no less than $1.25 billion to meet the growing needs of the population. Santé Québec will have to continue its launch on its knees, forced to make cuts. We will see services continue to deteriorate, waiting lists grow longer, and the private sector take up more and more space while we continue to refuse to provide accessible, quality care and services to the population.” — Robert Comeau, President of the APTS

Table of Provincial Groups of Community and Volunteer Organizations (TRPOCB)

“At an average of $24/hour, the wages offered in community groups are 42 per cent lower than the average wage in Quebec. A significant increase in funding would have led to a significant improvement in working conditions in the community sector. Needless to say, these people will also face rising costs and economic uncertainty, just like the people they support on a daily basis, and that 80 per cent of jobs in the community movement are held by women?” “The government has just missed an opportunity to reduce poverty and advance equity in Quebec” — Stéphanie Vallée, President of the TRPOCB

Quebec Network of Autonomous Community Action (RQ-ACA)

“This budget is a clear illustration of the gap between the government’s ability to adapt to the needs of businesses and its difficulty in adequately supporting independent community action organizations, which are nonetheless proactive, experienced, and full of hope in the midst of a social crisis.” — Claudia Fiore Leduc, Campaigns Manager for the Quebec Network for Autonomous Community Action (RQ-ACA)

Association of Quebec Engineering Consulting Firms (AFG)

“Investments in infrastructure will stimulate the economy and prevent future cost increases due to lack of maintenance.” — Bernard Bigras, President and CEO of the AFG

Council of Canadian Innovators (CCI)

“Overall, this budget positions innovation as a government priority, and we look forward to working closely with the government to make local innovators a key ingredient in Quebec’s economic growth (…). However, one area where we would have liked to see more concrete action is procurement. Government procurement is one of the most powerful levers for supporting local businesses.” — Jean-François Harvey, Quebec Director of the CCI

Quebec Golden Age Federation (FADOQ)

“The Quebec population wants to age at home. In these difficult economic times, maintaining investments in home support is a good thing. However, the government must ensure that its national home support policy, which will be tabled by the end of 2025, is adequately funded to increase service hours.” — Gisèle Tassé-Goodman, President of the FADOQ

Cooperation Network of Social Economy Enterprises in Home Support (EÉSAD)

“Although we still see the presence of the home support credit, there are some concerning elements in this budget. Home support in Quebec is at a crucial stage in its development. The EÉSAD Cooperation Network is asking the Quebec government to ensure that EÉSADs are able to carry out their mission of preserving the autonomy of seniors and vulnerable people, so that they can live at home as long as long as possible with dignity.” — Mr. J. Benoit Caron, Executive Director of the EÉSAD Cooperation Network

Quebec Housing Non-Profit Network (RQOH)

“The RQOH certainly welcomes the investments in infrastructure. They are necessary for a general increase in housing supply, but without specific support for community developers and non-profit organizations, all this money invested will primarily benefit private real estate developers, who will also be able to take advantage of government programs historically dedicated to social housing to carry out their for-profit projects.” — Pierre-Luc Fréchette, Co-Head of Public and Legal Affairs at the RQOH

Food Banks of Quebec (BAQ)

“We would like to thank the government for its commitment and attentiveness. In addition to the $10 million already allocated, $24 million in assistance for food purchases will be added, thus providing greater predictability. In addition, $3 million in support over three years will enable the implementation of autonomous procurement initiatives, essential to meet the anticipated increase in demand for food assistance. —Martin Munger, Executive Director of Food Banks of Quebec

Institut de recherche et d’informations socio économiques (IRIS)

“The government is using the same recipe as it did thirty years ago when it comes to public finances. Rather than focusing on increasing its revenues, it prefers to act on spending, which limits its ability to adequately support the public sector and transform the economy to make it more self-sufficient and more environmentally friendly.” —Guillaume Hébert, Researcher at IRIS

Montreal Economic Institute (MEI)

“For the second year in a row, the Legault government plans to shatter deficit records (…) Minister Girard seems much better at finding reasons to run deficits than he is at finding and eliminating government waste.” — Gabriel Giguère, Senior Public Policy Analyst at the MEI

Association of Quebec Economists

“The Public Policy Committee (PPC) of the Association of Quebec Economists supports Finance Minister Eric Girard’s decision to present in his budget a plan to return to a balanced budget by 2029-2030. The budget also includes revenues associated with harmonization with the increase in federal capital gains taxation starting in 2026, a measure that will likely no longer be implemented.” — Louis Lévesque, Chair of the Public Policy Committee of the Association of Quebec Economists

Union of Quebec Municipalities (UMQ)

“While municipalities manage more than 60 per cent of Quebec’s public infrastructure, we express our deep concern about the Quebec government’s disengagement from funding critical infrastructure to address the housing crisis. In the current context of economic uncertainty, a reduction in commitment exacerbates the fiscal inequity between the Quebec government and municipalities, which lack the means to address these immense financial challenges alone.” — Martin Damphousse, President of the Union des municipalités du Québec and Mayor of Varennes

Alliance TRANSIT

“Postponing problems will ultimately cost more. Despite the government’s long-term commitment, the state of infrastructure, particularly that of the Montreal metro, threatens the safety and reliability of the service, and maintenance costs will continue to explode. We remember the painful closure of the Saint-Michel station on the Blue Line last November, and the possibility of a repeat is of great concern to us,” — Blaise Rémillard, Interim Executive Director of the Montreal Regional Environmental Council, spokesperson for the TRANSIT Alliance

Vivre en Ville

“While we welcome the increase in cultural investments of over $500 million and the measures to support economic growth, we would expect clearer direction to implement the necessary changes in Quebec. Consider, for example, the lack of measures to accelerate construction starts and meet housing needs, or the stagnation of investments in public transit. We will have to be bolder for the future.” — Christian Savard, Executive Director of Vivre en Ville

Syndicat de professionnelles et professionnels du gouvernement du Québec (SPGQ)

“I congratulate the government for its intention to internalize certain functions performed by external resources. This desire must now be realized (…) It will certainly require more internal resources to perform the tasks currently performed externally and thus reverse the rise in outsourcing.” — Guillaume Bouvrette, President of the SPGQ

Centrale of Quebec Unions (CSQ)

“After hastily announcing hiring freezes and postponing investments, the government doesn’t seem to have learned from its mistakes. Today, it is promising us the status quo based on spending optimization that seems tenuous to us. What’s looming on the horizon is even more worrisome. Starting next year, spending growth will even be negative for several portfolios. This will inevitably translate into cuts to public services!” — Éric Gingras, President of the CSQ

David Suzuki Foundation

“Times of crisis such as the tariff war we are experiencing are opportunities to rethink our society and act with boldness, courage, and vision for the well-being of the population. However, the government has opted for a sadly traditional response while we are grappling with multiple crises. Once again, the government has failed to link the environmental crisis to the economy. It’s doing little to diversify and prepare it for the carbon-neutral world of tomorrow.” — Andréanne Brazeau, Senior Policy Analyst for Quebec at the David Suzuki Foundation

Équiterre

“On environmental issues, for several years now, the provincial budget has been as disappointing as it is predictable: we perpetuate the same bad habits, make cosmetic changes, and push the problems forward. We are sorely lacking in ambition.” — Alizée Cauchon, Assistant Director of Government Relations at Équiterre

“Agricultural and forestry businesses will be among the hardest hit by the American president’s tariffs. This threat adds to the difficulties thousands of them have experienced in recent years. The government’s response, which also reduces the overall budget of the Quebec Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food by 1.7 per cent (from $1,303 million to $1,281 million), will be met with a lukewarm reception.” — Martin Caron, President of the UPA

Producteurs de grains du Québec (PGQ)

“We have a duty to highlight the reduction in funding for the PAD, which includes funding to support the adoption of better agri-environmental practices. While we were calling for $50 million per year for this last measure, the funding will only be $20 million per year for the entire plan. This is an objective disappointment that will make it more difficult to achieve societal objectives in agriculture.” — Christian Overbeek, President of the PGQ

Association des professionnels de la construction et de l’habitation du Québec (APCHQ)

“It’s disappointing that today’s budget contains no new funding for water infrastructure. It’s truly a missed opportunity. Yet, right now, we’re seeing moratoriums on real estate development across Quebec because the capacity of water and sewer systems is insufficient. This is the blind spot in the housing crisis.” — David Goulet, Director of the APCHQ Economic Service

Quebec Construction Association (ACQ)

“The Quebec Construction Association (ACQ) welcomes the significant infrastructure investments announced in the Quebec budget presented today by Finance Minister Éric Girard. The ACQ also highlights the funding allocated to continue the Construction Training Offensive.” — Quebec Construction Association (ACQ)

Quebec Association of the Recording, Entertainment and Video Industry (ADISQ)

“This renewal of SODEC programs is good news for cultural entrepreneurship in this restrictive budgetary context. I would like to commend the commitment of the Minister of Culture and Communications, Mathieu Lacombe, in renewing these funds and the predictability they offer to the cultural sector.” — Eve Paré, Executive Director of Adisq

Union des artistes (UDA)

“In the current context, where cultural and national sovereignty are under significant attack, culture is our refuge, a weapon of defense that allows us to assert our identity. The government could not afford to cut back on its support for the cultural sector, which has been showing significant signs of deterioration for over a year. We must now develop a vision for the future, capable of restoring and sustaining our cultural ecosystem.” — Tania Kontoyanni, President, Union des artistes (UDA)

Conseil québécois du théâtre (CQT)

“The oxygen provided by this budget will provide the energy needed to continue efforts to preserve our cultural identity, the vitality of our artistic ecosystem, and the improvement of the socioeconomic conditions of artists.” — Caroline Gignac, Executive Director, Quebec Theatre Council (CQT)

Quebec Media Production Association (AQPM)

“The renewal of the SODEC budget ensures the continuation of numerous support programs essential to the production and promotion of independent audiovisual content for another year. (…) However, the future seems more uncertain with the announced cuts to the SODEC budget.” — Hélène Messier, President and CEO of the AQPM

Association of Music Publishing Professionals (APEM)

“Given the current context, we are satisfied with the continued investments in SODEC this year and we thank the Minister of Culture and Communications, Mathieu Lacombe (…) Our association had requested the renewal and sustainability of investments in SODEC. The APEM will ensure that the required funds are available next year to support our sector.” — Jérôme Payette, Executive Director of the APEM

Professional Association of Live Performance Promoters (RIDEAU)

“Quebec needs its culture, everywhere. Dynamic, unifying, bold. For art to emerge, flourish, circulate, and reach people, resources are needed. This budget confirms a new, concrete and significant contribution. That said, the needs are enormous, and the work must continue. The Common Front is proud of the work accomplished and is ready for what comes next. — David Laferrière, President, Professional Association of Performing Arts Presenters (RIDEAU)

Common Front for the Arts

“The Common Front welcomes the investment bringing the total funding of the Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec (CALQ) to $200 million for the next three years. A significant portion of this amount has been made permanent. The permanent portion has increased from $106 million to approximately $165 million. This progress will ensure greater predictability, which was at the heart of the demands. In the immediate future, the distribution of these new funds is an element that will merit close monitoring, and details should follow shortly.” — Common Front for the Arts

Culture 360° Network

“We are pleased and proud to see that the demands of the arts community have been included in the 2025-2026 Quebec budget, despite a difficult socio-political context. We celebrate this collective victory, which will benefit artists and arts organizations in all regions of Quebec.” — Julie Martineau, Co-President of the Culture 360° Network

Retail Council of Canada

“We welcome the investments in Les Produits du Québec certifications. These certifications are assets that allow our manufacturers and retailers to stand out. However, many retailers sometimes have to import certain products because local solutions do not exist. At this level, we must accelerate national and international networking to ensure supply chain agility and reduce costs. Investments in Quebec delegations are a step in the right direction, but we must act quickly.” — Michel Rochette, President of the CCCD – Quebec

Collective for a Quebec Without Poverty

“While the government should be investing in structural measures, it is instead opting for program renewals or targeted measures that only apply to a handful of people. The homelessness, housing, and food insecurity crises are affecting more and more people, but nowhere in the budget does one sense any urgency to act. Rather, one gets the impression that all is for the best in the best of all possible worlds. Everything seems to be going so well, in fact, that the government even goes so far as to cut a financial assistance measure for low-income workers.” — Serge Petitclerc, spokesperson for the Collective

Quebec Mining Association

“Following the tabling of the 2025-2026 Quebec budget, the Quebec Mining Association (QMA) welcomes the emphasis placed on the development of critical and strategic minerals (CSM), including the introduction of a new Quebec CSM Development Plan for the period 2025-2030. However, the QMA expresses its disappointment that no new tax measures will provide concrete support to base metal producers, who are major contributors to Quebec’s collective wealth.” — Quebec Mining Association

–This report by La Presse Canadienne was translated by CityNews