1998-1999 BUDGET:
OBJECTIVE: FOCUS ON JOBS, THE GOVERNMENT’S ECONOMIC STRATEGY
"With the year 2000 only 600 days away, Québec is adopting a rigorous, coherent, ambitious economic development strategy, which will enable us, in collaboration with all stakeholders, to provide for a progressive economy and to create jobs."
— Bernard Landry
(Québec City, March 31, 1998)—In conjunction with the 1998-1999 Budget Speech, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of State for the Economy and Finance Bernard Landry unveiled Objective: Focus on Jobs, the government’s economic strategy.
This strategy commits us to immediate action and indicates the government’s economic policy directions for the coming years. It proposes ambitious objectives aimed at making Québec a world leader in terms of job creation and competitiveness.
Convinced of the importance of rallying Québec’s dynamic forces around those objectives on which there is a consensus and of the need to adopt ambitious goals to achieve permanent prosperity in Québec, the Deputy Prime Minister noted: "These objectives will encourage us to surpass ourselves and will serve as a veritable yardstick for excellence. There is no doubt that the Québec economy has been profoundly altered by the strategies proposed by Challenges for Québ ec, The Technology Conversion and the sectoral advisory committees of the industrial clusters. Objective: Focus on Jobs will similarly serve as a guide, as will our partners."
DEMANDING GOALS
| Objectives | Proposed Targets |
| Achieve one of the highest job-creation rates in the industrialized economies | • Three choices: – Surpass the job-creation rate of the G-7 countries – Exceed the job-creation rate in Canada – Eliminate within 10 years at the most the historic discrepancy in the Québec and Canadian jobless rates |
| Rank among the 10 most competitive economies | • Gradually reduce the discrepancy in the tax burden between Québec and its main trading partners |
| • Achieve the level of R&D spending in the G-7 countries | |
| • Increase exports by an average of 5% a year | |
| • Bolster business investment Possible targets: |
|
| – Target A: In two stages : | |
| 1. Attain an investment rate of at least 11% on average during the period
2001-2005 2. Exceed 12.1% on average during the period 2006-2010 |
|
| – Target B: Eliminate by 2010 at the latest the discrepancy in investment rates between Québec and the G-7 countries | |
| • Raise the graduation rate among young people | |
| – Secondary, before 20 85% | |
| – Cegep 60% | |
| – University undergraduate 30% | |
Other targets may be set in the wake of consultations on the economic strategy. It will then be incumbent on a streamlined, flexible agency, the Institute for the Development of the Economy and Employment (IDEE) to ascertain Québec’s progress with respect to each of the targets adopted. The agency’s detailed mandate will be established following consultation with the government’s partners.
THREE BROAD POLICY DIRECTIONS
Objective: Focus on Jobs spells out three broad policy directions that will guide the implementation of the economic strategy: Develop a Competitive Economy, Develop a Caring Economy Focusing on Shared Values, Ensure an Economy Committed to Sustainable Development.
The government is proposing priority initiatives in respect of each of the three policy directions in the economic strategy. Certain priorities focus on the consensuses reached at the Summit Conference on the Economy and Employment.
Consultations may round out the perspective and broaden the scope of the priorities. However, with the 1998-1999 Budget, the government is resolutely focusing on its economic strategy and immediately initiating concrete gestures.
DEVELOP A COMPETITIVE ECONOMY
® The government will create conditions favourable to the development of
competitive businesses that create jobs:
- bolster the competitiveness of the public sector;
- make corporate taxation more competitive;
- lighten the tax burden of individual Quebecers;
- relax economic regulations;
- strengthen the performance of the financial sector.
® The government will efficiently support factors essential to competitiveness
and employment in order to ensure the development of businesses and job creation:
- support human resource development;
- foster innovation;
- stimulate the development of markets;
- increase private investment.
Key measures in the 1998-1999 Budget
• Corporate taxation reform
• Action plan to foster the development of the financial sector
• Development of on-the-job training
• Action plan to bolster private investment
DEVELOP A CARING ECONOMY FOCUSING
ON SHARED VALUES
® The government will provide Quebecers with the tools they need to take advantage of the new economy instead of submitting to it:
- an efficient education system;
- appropriate worker training and adaptation programs;
- active labour market measures;
- the elimination of obstacles to employment.
® The government will foster community spirit and cooperation through:
- the development of the social economy;
- the promotion of local and regional initiatives.
Key measures in the 1998-1999 Budget
• Development of internships
• Employment support measures
• Tax credit for interest paid on student loans
• Eligibility for the child care tax credit of child care expenses incurred in
conjunction with part-time study
• Non-taxation of RRSP withdrawals for the purpose of studying
• Additional support to help young people experiencing difficulties
ENSURE SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
® The government’s strategy is geared to sustainable development and intergenerational fairness:
- enhance the living conditions of present and future generations of
Quebecers;
- satisfy Quebecers’ social needs;
- preserve the quality of the environment and prudently use renewable resources;
- act with the greatest possible fairness.
Key measures in the 1998-1999 Budget
• Enhancement of the Agro-environmental Investment Assistance Program
• Establishment of the agro-environmental research and development institute
• Plan to increase the tourism supply in natural environments
• Financial assistance for water supply, sewage and water purification
infrastructures
• Support for the development of the Native peoples
SOURCE: ANDRÉE CORRIVEAU
COMMUNICATIONS ADVISOR
OFFICE OF THE DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER
TELEPHONE: (418) 643-5270