Legault must clean up and reduce the size of the bureaucracy

It is never too late to clean up – as long as it is a real cleaning. Moreover, not a simple sweep to hide the dust under the carpet.

Prime Minister François Legault has launched a wave of cuts in the ministries. Nevertheless, eliminating 859 jobs and aimed at the abolition of 2000 bureaucratic positions by the end of 2026.

But if he really wants to straighten public finances. For example, it will require much more political courage than it takes for a surface scratch.

Expansion administrative

The Quebec bureaucracy swelled at an alarming pace under Legault. Furthermore, The number of civil servants has increased from 492,000 to 608,000 – an increase of 24% since he was Prime Minister. Meanwhile, the population of Quebec only believed 10%.

This represents 116. Therefore, 000 new employees in the government’s balance, more than the legault must clean up reduce federal increase of nearly 99,000 employees for all of Canada in 10 years.

This hiring frenzy follows above all from administrative expansion. Moreover, Since the arrival of Legault, more than 64,000 new bureaucratic posts have been created. Nearly 12,000 in ministries and almost 52,000 office and support employees in the parapublic sector.

In all, 57% of the new hires were administrative staff, not front -line workers such as nurses or teachers.

Nurses represented only 24% of new positions, and teachers only 14%.

Damage of services

Thus. while the government praises its reinforcements on the front line, it discreetly built a huge bureaucratic machine.

Bureaucracy has grown twice as quickly as the population, and yet Quebeckers are deteriorating.

Whether it is Hydro-Québec. whose workforce has jumped by 20% in four years despite the degradation of its services, or investment Quebec, whose return caps at 0.3% while its number of executives has legault must clean up reduce exploded by 44% since 2019, it is clear that taxpayers have not been for their money.

In return, the cost of bureaucracy has exploded. It increased from $ 44 billion to $ 64 billion in just seven years – an increase of 43%. almost twice as fast as that of the cost of living.

This hiring frenzy under Legault largely explains why Quebec is currently displaying a deficit of $ 13.6 billion.

Quebec debt will amount to $ 258 billion this year. Interest, reaching $ 9.7 billion this year, will climb $ 12 billion by 2029 – the equivalent of building a hospital each month … to demolish it immediately.

Scandal

The household in our public finances is more than urgent. but the real scandal is that no real exercise in expense reduction has taken place for more than a decade.

The latest program revision dates back to 2014, under legault must clean up reduce Philippe Couillard.

His government then launched a commission to identify savings totaling $ 3.2 billion in expenses.

A year later, Quebec found budgetary balance. In 2018-2019, the province even displayed a record surplus of $ 7.9 billion. The household was modest, but effective.

Legault could have continued on this momentum. But despite his promises to reduce bureaucracy in 2012. in 2014 and finally in 2018, he preferred to deny his commitments and let the public service explode. Even credit agencies sound the alarm. S&P Global has just degraded the Quebec credit rating for the first time in 30 years.

This downgrading is not just a symbol. It is a red light who shows that history is repeated.

In the 1990s, Quebec waited too much before tackling its debt. When the crisis struck, the PQ and Liberal governments had to cut: closing hospitals, tax increases and reduction of services.

All this legault must clean up reduce would have been avoidable if governments had not managed public finances as a hot potato.

Today, Quebec is at the same crossroads. Either we act now, or we see the mistakes of the past.

Quebec no longer has the means of delays, denial and apology. It’s time to clean up.

Nicolas Gagnon

Quebec director of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation