1998-1999 BUDGET:

$232 MILLION FOR FAMILIES AND YOUNG PEOPLE

(Québec City, March 31, 1998)—In the 1998-1999 Budget Speech, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of State for the Economy and Finance Bernard Landry clearly indicated that we cannot contemplate the future without families and young people participating fully in Québec’s development. "One of the greatest challenges facing our society in the coming years will be to make room on the labour market for young people and foster their success," the Deputy Prime Minister stated.

Through its budgetary choices, the government is confirming once again this year the considerable importance that it attaches to families and young people.

$50 MILLION FOR FAMILIES

During the Summit Conference on the Economy and Employment held in Montréal, Prime Minister Lucien Bouchard announced a major shift in the assistance offered to families with the implementation of a family policy.

The policy is made up of several components, including:

— an improved family allowance that covers the essential needs of all of the children of low-income earners;
— access free of charge to full-time kindergarten for all five-year-olds since September 1997;
— access free of charge to child-care services for four-year-olds from underprivileged environments, since September 1997;
— access to child-care services at the reduced rate of $5 a day for young children, starting with four-year-olds, since September 1997.

In addition to this progressive family policy, the government launched a reform of personal taxation, announced in last year’s Budget Speech, which will afford low-income families considerable tax relief.

"Our government is pleased to underscore the importance it attaches to the family policy by allocating an additional $50 million over the next two years for child-care services at the reduced rate of $5 a day for three-year-olds, starting next September," Mr. Landry noted.

As of September 1998, 23 000 places in existing day care centres will be available for three-year-olds. With 35 000 places for four-year-olds, the government will make available a total of 58 000 places at a reduced rate for children 3 and 4 years of age. The government will fully achieve its numerical objective with respect to day care places at the reduced rate of $5 a day.

$182 MILLION FOR YOUNG PEOPLE

20 000 internships in the workplace

The government will earmark $43 million to increase the number of internships available to young people.

The refundable tax credit available to businesses that accept young people for on-the-job training is being extended for three years. Nearly 20 000 young people a year will benefit from this measure, notably those engaged in secondary school vocational training, apprenticeships, and cooperative Cegep and university programs.

Moreover, to ensure the maintenance and development of alternating work-study programs, the 1998-1999 Budget offers financial assistance to school boards and Cegeps. The tax credit for on-the-job training will encourage businesses to accept trainees. The funds allocated to the school boards and Cegeps will make it possible to develop programs that include on-the-job training.

The Québec government and the Fonds de solidarité des travailleurs du Québec (FTQ) have agreed to establish the Fonds étudiant solidarité travail du Québec to offer 550 young people internships in union organizations, cooperatives, non-profit organizations in the community sector, and small private companies. These work environments do not generally have sufficient financial resources to hire students.

5 000 new jobs for young people

— 2 000 jobs in leading-edge technologies

The Science and Technology Skills Improvement Program, established in the last Budget, has been such a success that requests from businesses exceed the available candidates. The program budget will be doubled with the addition of $21 million in new funding.

As a result, it will be possible to offer roughly 2 000 more young Cegep and university graduates an opportunity to acquire work experience in the information technologies, aerospace, biotechnology and new materials sectors.

— 1 500 jobs in SMBs

The government still wishes to help SMBs bolster their management and production teams. For this reason the Impact-SMB program will receive an additional $22 million to create 1 500 strategic jobs for young people in small and medium-sized businesses.

The jobs will be tied, among other things, to industrial research and development projects, technology transfers, the enhancement of existing products or exporting. They are intended in particular for young Cegep or university graduates in the sciences, engineering or international affairs.

— 325 young people to participate in internships around the world

To enable young graduates to develop the new skills demanded by the opening up of markets, a new program will soon make grants available to businesses operating in Québec and engaging in international operations to enable them to hire trainees in their establishments abroad. An estimated 325 internships could be offered over the next two years.

— 1 000 additional students employed by the public service

The government will earmark $4.5 million in order to bolster the number of jobs and internships in the public sector available to students in 1998-1999. More than 1 000 additional students can be hired.

This extra leeway will make it possible, among other things, to enhance the government’s employment equity initiatives, notably in the case of handicapped students and students from the cultural communities.

$41 million to reduce the indebtedness of students

To help young graduates facing substantial payments on their student loans, Mr. Landry has announced that they will be eligible from now on for a tax credit equivalent to 23% of the interest paid on such loans. This measure will apply to interest paid after December 31, 1997.

Furthermore, withdrawals from RRSPs for the purpose of studying will no longer be taxed. Child care costs incurred in conjunction with part-time study will from now on be eligible for the child care tax credit, which will mainly benefit young women heading single-parent families.

$20 million for young people experiencing difficulties

The government is deeply concerned by the situation of certain young people coping with serious adaptation problems. Consequently, it is allocating an additional $20 million over two years, primarily to drug addiction and suicide prevention programs.

* Fonds pour la formation des chercheurs et l’aide à la recherche (FCAR), Centre de recherche informatique de Montréal (CRIM), Centre international de formation en télécommunication (CIFT), short programs, Société des établissements de plein air du Québec (SEPAQ), development of the employability of recent graduates, internships in the ministère de la Justice. The document entitled Additional Budget Inf ormation contains further details on these measures.

SOURCE: ANDRÉE CORRIVEAU
COMMUNICATIONS ADVISOR
OFFICE OF THE DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER
TELEPHONE: (418) 643-5270

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