MONTREAL—A powerful union executive called federal Finance Minister Jim Flaherty’s new budget “anti-Quebec” on Thursday, while an angry Parti Quebecois pledged to fight the Conservative spending plan.
With no tax increases and few promises of largess from Ottawa, the government’s 2013 budget was designed to return the government to surplus by the next federal election in 2015.
The centerpiece of the conflict brewing between the PQ and the federal government is a new skills training plan. With employers calling for more employees with hands-on skills, the Canada Job Grant would provide $15,000 to each applicant to cover education and training costs.
Before negotiations even start, Quebec indicated that it won’t be willing to foot the $5,000 of the bill for each applicant Ottawa has said it expects provinces to pay—the federal government would pay another third, with the remainder falling on employers.
In 2007, the Harper government downloaded skills training to the provinces. Thursday’s about-face was widely forecasted, with a steady chorus calling for a federal strategy to meet labour shortfalls.
"They're simply taking part of what had already been transferred to the provinces, they're taking it back and they're putting a maple leaf on the cheque," said NDP leader Thomas Mulcair.
The CSN also indicated that it was perturbed by the invasion of provincial jurisdiction by the new program.
Quebec Finance Minister Nicolas Marceau called the budget a “frontal attack” on the province’s economy.
Marceau was furious on Thursday evening over the elimination of a tax credit for union-run venture-capital firms. The cut is expected to net Ottawa $355 million in additional revenue, 88 per cent from Quebec.
“This budget is anti-Quebec, anti-worker and anti-union,” said Daniel Boyer, secretary general of the powerful FTQ union after learning of the cut.
"It's worse than being abandoned. If they'd simply left us alone, we'd have been happy enough, but they didn't even do that. They're not leaving us alone, they're attacking us,” said Marceau.
$124.9 million for Champlain Bridge replacement
With billions in the budget for infrastructure spending across Canada, several large projects in Quebec were officially given the green light on Thursday, including a replacement for the Champlain Bridge.
Montreal’s busiest bridge is in need of replacement within the next decade. While planning and negotiations started years ago for the successor to the federally-managed structure, the government announced $124.9 million to build a causeway between Montreal and Nuns Island.
The causeway would be built downriver from the existing bridge and would be a temporary structure for traffic while a new bridge is built.
The budget also included $705 million to finish the second phase of Montreal’s Highway 30 ringroad and $2.4 million to build new facilities at College Lionel-Groulx.
The small town of Saint-Prime, Quebec, in the heart of the Lac St-Jean region, will also receive $237,000 to expand its municipal marina. With only 2,700 people, the picturesque town is north of Roberval and already hosts a sizeable marina. The project is in the riding of powerful Conservative cabinet minister Denis Lebel.
—with files from The Canadian Press.
