QUÉBEC — The Quebec government has introduced a budget with a record deficit and billions of dollars in measures to shore up the economy during the trade war with the United States.
Tabled today by Finance Minister Eric Girard, the budget is in deficit by $13.6 billion, which includes a legally required transfer of $2.2 billion into a fund dedicated to reducing debt.
The $165.8-billion budget invests $5.4 billion over five years on measures to stimulate the economy, as the trade war is expected to cut 0.7 percentage points from this year’s GDP growth, now forecast to rise by 1.1 per cent.
Girard also budgeted an extra $11 billion over three years for major infrastructure projects to help maintain jobs and economic growth.
His budget assumes that tariffs recently imposed by U.S. President Donald Trump on Canadian goods — and the tariffs still possibly to come from his administration — will be the equivalent of 10 per cent over the next two years.
Girard is forecasting that the budget will be balanced by fiscal year 2029-30.
More coming.
Morgan Lowrie, The Canadian Press
