An independent Quebec would be the 27th-richest country in the world, in terms of gross domestic product per capita, Finance Minister Nicolas Marceau said Friday.
“That’s in the top 12 per cent in the club of rich countries,” Marceau said after a two-hour debate on the economy at which Quebec’s severe and growing lack of competitiveness and prosperity in global terms was front and centre.
But Marceau was less precise or categorical about indebtedness. Asked how indebted sovereign Quebecers would be per capita, Marceau said “it depends on which measure of debts you use.”
“One (ranking) was published in 2010. It depends again on the criterion that you use. ... You know that OECD (Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development) countries have had a hard time, like the United States and European countries. And I’m sure that our (debt) ranking has improved. It depends on the concept and which debt you are using. If you use the most recent data, Quebec would (rank) very well, with debt below the average of OECD countries.”
However, at the launch of the debate — with the Quebec Liberal Party’s Martin Coiteux and Christian Dubé of the Coalition Avenir Québec — Robert Gagné, director of the Hautes Études Commerciales’ centre on productivity and prosperity, showed in graphic detail Quebec’s lagging economic performance in relation to OECD countries, Ontario and the rest of Canada as a bloc during the last 30 years.
“At the start of the 1980s, Quebec was in line with them, in terms of productivity and prosperity,” said Gagné. “Today, the situation is no longer the same.”
Quebecers’ comparative prosperity lags by about $6,500 per capita, he added.
Canada’s prosperity and productivity index also dropped during that time, but not nearly as much as Quebec’s, he noted.
Coiteux noted that Quebec accounts for 23 per cent of Canada’s population, but only 20 per cent of gross domestic product and 27 per cent of public spending.
Gagné pleaded with all three party representatives to cut one form of government largesse in particular: corporate subsidies in various forms, including tax credits.
“So I ask the three candidates, ‘If you want to be useful once in power, clean up this mess of credits and financial support to business.’ We’re talking about billions of dollars.”
Paraphrasing a popular ad, Gagné said that “if (subsidizing business) was working, it would show up in the numbers. ... We overtax the great majority of businesses to subsidize a tiny minority.”
But Gagné’s plea fell on deaf ears.
In fact, Coiteux and Dubé reiterated their support for tax credits to specifically targeted sectors, including to help small- and medium-size business to export.
All three debaters agreed Quebec’s spending and debt need to come down, but none was ready during an election campaign to concede the point on corporate subsidies or on cuts to Quebecers’ social safety net. In fact, all three specifically noted the importance of Quebec’s aerospace industry, perhaps one of the largest recipients of subsidies from all levels of government.
Dubé and Coiteux said several times that spending could be reined in by freezing or cutting the number of public-sector employees.
“We’re going to cut into useless bureaucracy,” Coiteux said.
He also hammered away at the economic costs of what he called the Parti Québécois government’s “kidnapping” of economic priorities in favour of the divisive charter of values “pitting citizen against citizen” and its single-minded focus on an eventual referendum on sovereignty.
“Make no mistake,” Coiteux said. “The day after April 7 (election day), if these people get back in power, we’re in a referendum campaign.”
Marceau hit back several times with the assertion that the rate at which Quebec racks up debt has slowed since the PQ took over from Jean Charest’s Liberals.
After the recent announcement by Quebec that it would invest hundreds of millions of dollars in a cement plant in the Gaspé, Coiteux said: “I have the impression we’re back in the 1970s, where the state directs everything — including who wins and who loses.”
That subsidy announcement has been criticized as vote-buying in one of Quebec’s highest unemployment zones just before an election is called. The PQ called it a good investment.
Asked if they were ready to give added powers to Montreal Mayor Denis Coderre to improve the city’s job situation and reduce debt, all three trod carefully.
Marceau said it was “premature for me to say,” while Dubé asked what Quebec would get in return. Coiteux vaunted the benefits of bilingualism and said stopping the artificial divisions among Quebecers would help the economy
“That’s in the top 12 per cent in the club of rich countries,” Marceau said after a two-hour debate on the economy at which Quebec’s severe and growing lack of competitiveness and prosperity in global terms was front and centre.
But Marceau was less precise or categorical about indebtedness. Asked how indebted sovereign Quebecers would be per capita, Marceau said “it depends on which measure of debts you use.”
“One (ranking) was published in 2010. It depends again on the criterion that you use. ... You know that OECD (Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development) countries have had a hard time, like the United States and European countries. And I’m sure that our (debt) ranking has improved. It depends on the concept and which debt you are using. If you use the most recent data, Quebec would (rank) very well, with debt below the average of OECD countries.”
However, at the launch of the debate — with the Quebec Liberal Party’s Martin Coiteux and Christian Dubé of the Coalition Avenir Québec — Robert Gagné, director of the Hautes Études Commerciales’ centre on productivity and prosperity, showed in graphic detail Quebec’s lagging economic performance in relation to OECD countries, Ontario and the rest of Canada as a bloc during the last 30 years.
“At the start of the 1980s, Quebec was in line with them, in terms of productivity and prosperity,” said Gagné. “Today, the situation is no longer the same.”
Quebecers’ comparative prosperity lags by about $6,500 per capita, he added.
Canada’s prosperity and productivity index also dropped during that time, but not nearly as much as Quebec’s, he noted.
Coiteux noted that Quebec accounts for 23 per cent of Canada’s population, but only 20 per cent of gross domestic product and 27 per cent of public spending.
Gagné pleaded with all three party representatives to cut one form of government largesse in particular: corporate subsidies in various forms, including tax credits.
“So I ask the three candidates, ‘If you want to be useful once in power, clean up this mess of credits and financial support to business.’ We’re talking about billions of dollars.”
Paraphrasing a popular ad, Gagné said that “if (subsidizing business) was working, it would show up in the numbers. ... We overtax the great majority of businesses to subsidize a tiny minority.”
But Gagné’s plea fell on deaf ears.
In fact, Coiteux and Dubé reiterated their support for tax credits to specifically targeted sectors, including to help small- and medium-size business to export.
All three debaters agreed Quebec’s spending and debt need to come down, but none was ready during an election campaign to concede the point on corporate subsidies or on cuts to Quebecers’ social safety net. In fact, all three specifically noted the importance of Quebec’s aerospace industry, perhaps one of the largest recipients of subsidies from all levels of government.
Dubé and Coiteux said several times that spending could be reined in by freezing or cutting the number of public-sector employees.
“We’re going to cut into useless bureaucracy,” Coiteux said.
He also hammered away at the economic costs of what he called the Parti Québécois government’s “kidnapping” of economic priorities in favour of the divisive charter of values “pitting citizen against citizen” and its single-minded focus on an eventual referendum on sovereignty.
“Make no mistake,” Coiteux said. “The day after April 7 (election day), if these people get back in power, we’re in a referendum campaign.”
Marceau hit back several times with the assertion that the rate at which Quebec racks up debt has slowed since the PQ took over from Jean Charest’s Liberals.
After the recent announcement by Quebec that it would invest hundreds of millions of dollars in a cement plant in the Gaspé, Coiteux said: “I have the impression we’re back in the 1970s, where the state directs everything — including who wins and who loses.”
That subsidy announcement has been criticized as vote-buying in one of Quebec’s highest unemployment zones just before an election is called. The PQ called it a good investment.
Asked if they were ready to give added powers to Montreal Mayor Denis Coderre to improve the city’s job situation and reduce debt, all three trod carefully.
Marceau said it was “premature for me to say,” while Dubé asked what Quebec would get in return. Coiteux vaunted the benefits of bilingualism and said stopping the artificial divisions among Quebecers would help the economy