Bloc challenges Tories: Give Quebec $5-billion or the budget dies

Share

The Bloc Québécois is threatening to spark an election if the forthcoming Conservative budget does not include a $5-billion compensation package for Quebec.

Bloc Leader Gilles Duceppe said on Wednesday that his party won't support the federal budget unless Ottawa agrees to settle a long-running dispute with Quebec, in which the province is seeking $2.2-billion to cover the cost of harmonizing provincial and federal sales taxes in the 1990s. The dispute arose in recent years after British Columbia and Ontario adopted the HST and got compensation from Ottawa.

But the Bloc's demands didn't stop there. Mr. Duceppe said he will also be looking for an "interesting settlement" for the remaining $2.8-billion of its demands.

"If the $2.2-billion isn't in the budget, we won't support it," Mr. Duceppe said. "If the $2.2-billion is there and they tell us to forget about the remaining $2.8-billion, it's no way," he said at the end of a two-day caucus meeting in Quebec City.

Christian Paradis, the federal Conservative minister for Quebec, called the Bloc's stand a deliberate move to force an election.

"Gilles Duceppe and his MPs are just looking for an excuse to vote against the next federal budget and force an election that Quebeckers don't need," he told The Globe and Mail.

Other Bloc demands include compensation for changes to equalization payments that the Bloc said cost Quebec more than $1.2-billion. Mr. Duceppe is also demanding another $800-million in increased transfer payments to Quebec for education and social programs, as well as more than $400-million to cover the cost of the 1998 ice storm, for which Quebec has yet to receive compensation.

"Last year was a good budget for Ontario. Now it's Quebec's turn," Mr. Duceppe said.

The Bloc Leader said he would support the Conservatives' proposed tax cut for businesses, but only if it was targeted at small and medium-sized companies to help create jobs. Big corporations that have benefited from tax shelters should pay more, Mr. Duceppe said. He also singled out the oil and gas industry for higher rates and called for the elimination of tax havens for the banking system.

"We want to have an equilibrium in the budget and make sure to have acceptable rates," Mr. Duceppe said.

The Bloc insisted it isn't making demands that it expects the Tories to reject, which would provide an ideal platform to win back seats from the Conservatives in Quebec.

Mr. Duceppe argued that if the Harper government could meet the needs of other provinces in past budgets, there was no reason he couldn't respond favourably to Quebec this time.

"Last year, Ontario got about $13-billion. And that was said to be acceptable. For Quebec, we are asking for $5-billion that is owed - and that would be unacceptable? That's truly a double standard."