Quebec says federal budget ignores its key demands

Quebec Finance Minister Nicolas Marceau said Nov. 5 that the federal budget ignored the province’s main requests, including more health-care money and repayment of asylum-seeker costs, and offered no plan to return to a balanced budget.

In a statement issued the day Ottawa tabled its budget, Marceau said the “legitimate demands of Quebec were not heard.” He said Quebec’s public finances depend heavily on decisions made in Ottawa and that the province will have to deal with the budget’s effect on its own fiscal framework. The statement was translated from French.

The day before, on Nov. 4, Marceau made public the demands he had sent to the federal government. Quebec asked Ottawa to “do its fair share” on health care, as the current health-transfer agreement expires next spring. It also asked for repayment by March 31, 2027, of spending incurred in 2024 on services for asylum claimants. Quebec says it spent $733 million on those services and has so far been reimbursed only $43.1 million.

Marceau also repeated that supply management must be preserved in full in any negotiations with the United States.

The new Parti Québécois government has said it inherited weak finances from the previous government. Marceau’s office said Quebec will set out its path back to a balanced budget in its economic update. Our earlier report covered the PQ’s claim that it inherited fiscal “surprises”.

The statement singled out the federal “mega deduction,” a tax measure Ottawa announced without consulting Quebec’s previous government. Marceau said that if Quebec harmonized its own tax rules with it, the province would face a significant shortfall in revenue. Canada News Media has explained how the federal mega deduction works.

Marceau did acknowledge the federal contribution to fighting homelessness. He said Quebec will make sure the money is paid out quickly, without conditions and within Quebec’s jurisdiction.

“That is the price of staying in Canada and letting another country manage half of our taxes,” Marceau said in the statement, translated from French.

The reaction comes as Premier Paul St-Pierre Plamondon and Prime Minister Mark Carney prepare for their first meeting, set for Cambodia. For what the federal budget means for households, see our budget explainer.

The federal Finance Department had not responded to Quebec’s statements in the sources reviewed for this story.

Sources: Quebec government news releases of Nov. 4 and Nov. 5 (in French); Le Devoir.

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