Quebec Finance Minister Eric Girard presented his fifth budget on Tuesday, for the province's 2023-24 fiscal year. Here are some highlights:
Income tax cuts of one percentage point on the first two income tax brackets, starting in 2023, which will save a single earner up to $814 per year.
GDP growth is projected to fall to 0.6 per cent in 2023 from 2.8 per cent in 2022, before rising to 1.4 per cent in 2024.
Government spending will be about $148 billion in the 2023-24 fiscal year, with a deficit of about $1.6 billion. The deficit rises to $4 billion after accounting for legally required payments into a fund dedicated to paying down debt.
The budget is projected to be balanced in 2027-28, when payments into the debt fund are considered. The budget would be balanced as early as the 2025-26 fiscal year excluding those payments.
Starting Jan. 1, 2024, Quebecers over the age of 65 who are in the workforce will have the option to stop paying into the Quebec pension plan, which will increase their after-tax income.
Health-care spending rises by 7.7 per cent, for a total of about $59 billion -- the largest government expenditure.
Education spending rises by six per cent, for a total of about $20 billion.
Spending of $649 million by the 2027-28 fiscal year for thepromotion of the French language.
Quebec will receive about $14 billion in equalization payments in the 2023-24 fiscal year, an increase of 2.7 per cent.
Federal transfers will be about $30 billion, up 1.8 per cent, including about $8.7 billion for health care, which is 22 per cent more than in the previous fiscal year.
Debt service will be about $9.5 billion, a drop of about six per cent from the prior fiscal year.
Quebec's gross debt by March 31, 2023, will be about $223 billion, and its gross debt-to-GDP ratio will be 40.2 per cent.
Canada's special rapporteur on foreign interference David Johnston calls the allegations swirling around his objectivity 'quite simply false,' and said Tuesday he plans to push ahead with his work, launching public hearings next month
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre says Prime Minister Justin Trudeau should see to it that mass murderers serve their entire sentences in maximum-security prison.
The number of interactions between killer whales and humans has increased alarmingly in recent years. CTVNews.ca asked an expert to explain the reasons behind the increase in interactions, explore the types of encounters, and examine the implications for both humans and killer whales.
The PGA Tour ended its expensive fight with Saudi Arabia's golf venture and now is joining forces with it, making a stunning announcement Tuesday of a merger that creates a commercial operation with the Public Investment Fund and the European tour.
Across Canada, the average price of rent climbed back up after pandemic lows, with the monthly rate new tenants face now 20 per cent higher than it was two years ago, according to just-released rental data.
While the Liberals insist a Pacific Rim trade bloc should welcome anyone who meets its standards, an internal document suggests Prime Minister Justin Trudeau wants China kept out.
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Prince Harry entered a courtroom witness box Tuesday, swearing to tell the truth in testimony against a tabloid publisher he accuses of phone hacking and other unlawful snooping.
Canada's emergency preparedness minister says images of wildfires burning across the country are some of the most severe ever witnessed in Canada and the current forecast for the next few months indicates the potential for continued higher-than-normal fire activity.
The smell of smoke is in the air throughout the city of Toronto and could get worse before the week is over as wildfires continue to burn in Quebec and northern Ontario.
The actions of the teen who repeatedly slashed a North York massage parlour receptionist 42 times with a sword, killing her and injuring her manager, were an act of terrorism, an Ontario Supreme Court Justice found Monday in a 'historical' decision in Canada.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford is calling on the correctional services commissioner to “step aside, step down, or [..] be fired” after moving serial killer Paul Bernardo to a medium-security prison.
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Canada's emergency preparedness minister says images of wildfires burning across the country are some of the most severe ever witnessed in Canada and the current forecast for the next few months indicates the potential for continued higher-than-normal fire activity.
Marking the two year anniversary of the alleged terror attack that took the lives of four members of the same family, the board has announced an Anti-Islamophobia Strategy.
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An investigation is underway after a crash between a car and a transport truck on Tuesday morning. It happened around 9 a.m. on Highbury Avenue near Ron McNeil Line, north of St. Thomas.
While firefighters get more forest fires under control in northern Ontario, travel restrictions declared under an emergency order are being expanded in several communities.
A 13-year-old male from Elliot Lake in northern Ontario has been charged with sexual assault again, bringing the total to 10, after another survivor came forward.
A grieving widow whose husband was run over and killed by a speeding OPP officer can't believe the force told her it won't hold a public hearing into the case because it decided the misconduct was 'not serious.'
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Innisfail RCMP say an officer was attacked by the driver and passenger of a truck they'd stopped on suspicion of impaired driving on Saturday, but the accused's lawyer has a different story of the encounter.
The Coalition of Muslim Women (CMW) of KW is organizing a vigil on Tuesday evening to commemorate the lives lost on June 6, 2021 when four out of the five members of the Afzaal family were struck and killed by a man in a truck in London, Ont.
A B.C. woman has agreed to cancel her nursing registration for at least 18 months after failing to provide round-the-clock care for a patient with “significant” needs.
The provincial wildfire service is warning British Columbians to have a go-bag and make an evacuation plan with this year's wildfire season off to an alarming start.
Police in Australia are investigating the suspicious death of a woman who used to live in Surrey, BC, after her body was found in her apartment on the outskirts of Sydney.
Mounties in the town of McLennan, Alta. are hoping members of the public can help them identify two men who tried to steal a bank machine from the local ATB Financial.
Over 50 people were packed into an un-air-conditioned council chamber in Yorkton on Monday, looking for more clarity on the future of the city’s public library.
It’s been 79 years since the war effort known as ‘D-Day,’ which eventually led to the liberation of western Europe during World War II. The day was marked with a service in Normandy with the Royal Regina Rifles on hand.
A special air quality statement remains in effect for the National Capital Region because of wildfire smoke blowing across the region. Environment Canada's air quality health index is at its highest level of risk.
The wildfire burning at Centennial Lake, about 150 km west of Ottawa is still not under control, but the local mayor says it has been significantly reduced.
The federal government has given an updated deal to a public-service union that signed its collective agreement in the fall in order to match deals reached with the Public Service Alliance of Canada during a strike this spring.
While Saskatoon Tribal Council (STC) publicly mulled moving its downtown emergency shelter to a location on 20th Street near the city's core, city documents reveal the wellness centre's present Fairhaven area location was heavily favoured early in the process.
