LAVAL, Que. – Thirteen people pleaded guilty Tuesday in a fraud scheme involving the awarding of municipal contracts in the Montreal-area city of Laval.
Twelve of the 13 received sentences to be served in the community.
Read more at 660news.com
Quebec to spend surplus on eliminating health tax
Quebec’s finance minister says the province finally has its debt under control and so can now afford to spend $2.2 billion over the next three years on infrastructure, healthcare, and education.
In a mid-fiscal-year budget update on Tuesday, Carlos Leitao said the provincial government is now in a position to eliminate the health tax for all Quebecers on Jan. 1, 2017, two years ahead of schedule.
Leitao had promised in March 2015 to begin wiping out the health tax for low-income Quebecers in 2017, and to eliminate it for everyone in 2019.
This will cost the provincial government $179 million in the current fiscal year.
“Now that our house is in order, we have the means to change things to improve the lives of Quebecers,” said Leitao, who, in addition to spending more on healthcare and education, also wants to take measures to improve the economy in rural Quebec.
Leitao said it’s all a sign that steady, patient work and so-called austerity measures have been effective.
Source: http://montreal.ctvnews.ca/quebec-to-spend-surplus-on-eliminating-health-tax-1.3130592
Reading government debt
The Montreal Economic Institute (MEI) released a statement yesterday alarming us all to the fact that around 7PM today, Québec’s public debt surpassed $280 billion dollars. As if that figure wasn’t staggering enough – and literally incomprehensible to most of us – the MEI’s statement was quick to add that public debt is also growing to the tune of about $8 billion per year.
Source: http://www.lifeinquebec.com/reading-government-debt-20911/