MONTRÉAL, QC:  The Canadian Taxpayers Federation is asking the Quebec government to adopt a series of resolutions to start the new year on the right foot.

“A whole lot of Quebecers see the new year as an excuse to do better, by adopting new year’s resolutions,” said CTF Quebec Director Renaud Brossard. “That’s exactly what we’re asking our government – to do better – by adopting these three resolutions.”

1 – Reduce spending on government employee compensation

The Quebec government is currently negotiating with the unions representing its more than 500,000 bureaucrats. The current budget deficit is projected to reach $15 billion and the government is not planning to return to balance before 2025.

“The government’s finances have been badly hurt by the pandemic and it is clear taxpayers don’t have the funds to bail it out,” said Brossard. “In this context, it is only normal for a government to review its expenditures and no single item is as big as government bureaucrat remuneration. If we’re all in this together, government employees need to take a pay cut like the rest of us.”

2 – Stop subsidizing pornography – directly or indirectly

Le Journal released a story on Dec. 21 showing that the Quebec government gave over $200,000 to controversial pornography giant MindGeek over the last decade. The government was not able to confirm whether MindGeek benefitted from other types of financial interventions.

“While it’s always obscene to see governments funnel taxpayers’ cash into corporate welfare, it’s even more so when the company in question does pornography,” said Brossard. “Surely politicians of all stripes can agree that Quebec taxpayers’ cash shouldn’t serve to subsidize pornography.”

3 – Put forward a plan to get the budget back to balance

In its latest budget update, the government presented projections of $30 billion in deficit over three years. While the minister of finance has committed to balance the budget by 2025, he has yet to say how he will do it.

“Committing to get the budget back to balance is one thing, but getting it back to balance is another,” said Brossard. “The government needs to put forward a plan to get back to balance and start rebuilding our fiscal capacity.”