Here are the highlights of the Quebec budget

Quebec Finance Minister Eric Girard on Tuesday tabled his sixth budget, with big spending increases for health and education. Here are some highlights.

• Deficit of $11 billion, which includes a $1.5-billion contingency reserve and a $2.2 billion payment into a fund dedicated to reducing debt.
• Revenues of $150.3 billion, an increase of 2.4 per cent; expenditures of $157.6 billion, an increase of 4.4 per cent.
• Economic growth -- real GDP, adjusted for inflation -- is expected to rise by 0.6 per cent in 2024 and by 1.6 per cent in 2025.
• Balanced budget no later than 2029-30 fiscal year, but no precise timeline for getting there until next year's budget.
• Two largest expenditures are health care at $61.9 billion, up 4.2 per cent, and education at $22.4 billion, up 9.3 per cent.
• Plan to find $2.9 billion in savings over five years by abolishing or reforming certain business tax credits; by asking provincially owned companies -- including the hydro utility and the liquor board -- to reduce expenses; and by investing in programs to increase tax collection and fight economic crime.
• Phasing out rebates for the purchase of electric and hybrid vehicles beginning next year, with complete elimination as of January 2027.
• A tax increase on tobacco products of two dollars per carton of 200 cigarettes, effective Wednesday, with another identical increase on Jan. 6, 2025.
• Federal transfers will be $29.4 billion, down 6 per cent, largely due to last fiscal year's one-time health transfer and by changes to the federal equalization formula.
• Net debt will be $221.1 billion on March 31, 2024, or 39 per cent of GDP, the second-largest as a percentage of GDP among provinces, behind only Newfoundland and Labrador.
• Interest payments on debt will be $9.8 billion, an increase of 1.2 per cent.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published on March 12, 2024.