(Quebec) Quebec must go into debt to accelerate the energy transition, the official opposition to the Legault government suggested on Wednesday.
The Liberal Party of Quebec (PLQ) wants the CAQ government to do as the federal government proposes in its budget tabled on Tuesday.
Federal Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland then announced $80 billion over 10 years for all provinces to accelerate the transition to a hydrocarbon-free economy.
In a press scrum on Wednesday morning, the PLQ’s spokesperson for the economy, Frédéric Beauchemin, first saw in this plan a “threat” to Quebec’s “strategic advantage” in renewable energies, since the other provinces will also be able to compete with it.
“The 80 billion will go towards the most structuring projects for the whole economy,” he said.
He also urged the caquistes to recover the share of the 80 billion that would return to Quebec, or about 20 billion according to his estimate.
But above all, he pleaded for an increase in Quebec’s debt, that is to say that the Legault government borrows more to invest more massively in the energy transition, and thus get out of fossil fuels more quickly.
“I sincerely believe that if we have a temporary increase in our debt-to-GDP ratio to be able to seek an accelerated green transition, that’s a decision that would probably be the right one, as a father, given the whole benefits that come with accelerating the green transition. »
