QUEBEC CITY -- Quebecers with higher incomes for whom the government's newly announced $500 one-time payment may be less useful should donate it to charity, the Parti Québécois (PQ) said.

On Wednesday, PQ leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon and his House leader Martin Ouellet made this suggestion at a press briefing at the National Assembly.

They were reacting to the flagship measure of the 2022-2023 budget presented the day before, which consists of paying $500 this year to each Quebec adult whose annual income is $100,000 or less. 

Ouellet said donating was the right "solidarity gesture" to make, as food banks and community groups remain under pressure.

"So for those of you who don't think that $500 is going to help, give it back to society. Give it to community groups," he said.

St-Pierre Plamondon announced that the elected PQ members who would receive this amount would commit to donate it to an organization that takes care of people in need.

He challenged the Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ) MNAs to do the same.

The PQ leader said he found it "indecent" to give "more than a billion dollars to groups that have no trouble making ends meet, while others are struggling to find a home."

For MNA Sol Zanetti, from Québec solidaire, it is an "outrage" that elected officials will be able to touch $500.

"I would like to know how many CAQ MNAs will receive it. I would like to know if they are ashamed," he said. He pledged to give his payment to the food banks in his riding of Jean-Lesage, in Quebec City.

Liberal Leader Dominique Anglade said she was not a "paternalist," so she would let "people decide for themselves, according to their needs, what they want to do."

"One thing is clear, however: the government could have chosen to target more to help people who are more in need," she said.

Later, in a press scrum, Premier François Legault also pleaded for free choice.

"I hope that all people help organizations that are in need," he said. "Now it's up to each Quebecer to decide what they do with that money."

Faced with opponents who "would have preferred to give the cheque only to the most disadvantaged," the premier was a great defender of the middle class.

"Too often, the middle class is forgotten. And it is not true that people who earn more than $40,000 or $50,000 a year have not been affected by inflation," he said.

"Whether it's a nurse who earns $85,000, or a teacher, or a member of parliament, I think these people have been affected by inflation," Legault added.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published in French on March 23, 2022.