Budget 2022‑2023

Sums Dedicated to the Generations Fund

The Act to reduce the debt and establish the Generations Fund was passed on June 15, 2006 with the goal of reducing Québec’s debt burden.

The Generations Fund is a fund dedicated exclusively to repaying Québec’s debt.

In order to finance the Generations Fund, we have turned to our most important renewable collective resource: water, Québec’s blue gold.

The Generations Fund is financed by revenue sources dedicated to debt repayment and consisting of, in particular, water-power royalties from Hydro-Québec and private producers of hydroelectricity.

The Generations Fund also receives sums relative to the indexation of the price of heritage electricity, an additional contribution from Hydro-Québec, mining revenues, the specific tax on alcoholic beverages and the liquidation of unclaimed property administered by Revenu Québec.

The sums dedicated to the Generations Fund are deposited with the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec and managed in accordance with an investment policy determined by the Minister of Finance in collaboration with representatives of the Caisse.

The Generations Fund will stand at $19.1B as at March 31, 2023

Taking into account the deposits made since the creation of the Fund and those forecast, as well as the use of the Fund to repay borrowings on financial markets, the book value of the Generations Fund will stand at $19.1 billion as at March 31, 2023.

Growth in the book value of the Generations Fund as at March 31
(millions of dollars)

• 2022: 15 669
• 2023: 19 114
• 2024: 23 049
• 2025: 27 429
• 2026: 32 051
• 2027: 37 005

Deposits in the Generations Fund provided for in Budget 2022‑2023

Deposits in the Generations Fund help to reduce the debt and thus to improve intergenerational fairness. Therefore, the government will maintain these deposits.

As part of Budget 2022‑2023, the government is projecting deposits of dedicated revenues in the Generations Fund totalling $3.4 billion in 2022-2023, $3.9 billion in 2023-2024, $4.4 billion in 2024-2025, $4.6 billion in 2025-2026 and $5.0 billion in 2026-2027.

These deposits will come from the following sources:

• water-power royalties from Hydro-Québec and private producers, representing $870 million in 2022-2023, $910 million in 2023-2024, $941 million in 2024-2025, $962 million in 2025-2026 and $998 million in 2026-2027;
• revenue generated by the indexation of the price of heritage electricity, representing $535 million in 2022-2023, $775 million in 2023-2024, $970 million in 2024-2025, $1 105 million in 2025-2026 and $1 215 million in 2026-2027;
• an additional contribution of $215 million per year from Hydro-Québec;
• all mining revenues collected by the government, which are estimated at $484 million in 2022-2023, $409 million in 2023-2024, $358 million in 2024-2025, $375 million in 2025-2026 and $340 million in 2026-2027;
• an amount of $500 million per year drawn from the specific tax on alcoholic beverages;
• revenues from unclaimed property, representing $55 million in 2022-2023, $171 million in 2023-2024, $249 million in 2024-2025, $111 million in 2025-2026 and $109 million in 2026-2027;
• income generated by the investment of the sums making up the Generations Fund, which is estimated at $786 million in 2022-2023, $955 million in 2023-2024, $1 147 million in 2024-2025, $1 354 million in 2025-2026 and $1 577 million in 2026-2027.

Click here to find out more about Québec’s debt.