Political Realities

"A more likely driver than the political climate is the relatively decrepit state of the Quebec economy coupled with the highest income taxes of any Canadian jurisdiction."
"Where Quebec leads the country is in taxes and in public debt. Quebec income tax rates in all income brackets are more or nearly double what they are in neighbouring Ontario."
The Gazette, Montreal

An editorial in this week's Montreal Gazette made note of rising exodus rates from the province. Not the result, they feel, of the straitened social-religious atmosphere arising from the governing Parti Quebecois pending proposed charter in religious values in Quebec which has garnered endless backlashes from the province's religious groups, while being praised by a surprising majority of Quebec voters.

 Quebec Premier Pauline Marois receives the tables Charter of Quebec values from Minister Responsible for Democratic Institutions and Active Citizenship Bernard Drainville Tuesday, September 10, 2013 at the legislature in Quebec City.

Photograph by: Jacques Boissinot , The Canadian Press

It's not the growing distance between the government and the province's religious minorities which feel themselves increasingly discriminated against as a distinct measure of institutionalized investment in creating a distance between Quebecois and outsiders, even if those outsiders are and have been Quebec citizens for generations. That kind of insecurity has its economic backlash.

But there is a connection. That connection between the uneasy social atmosphere that attends the proposed legislation by the Parti Quebecois and their election to government, aligned with their tightening of Quebec's Language Law to further stifle English-language prominence, and the final goal of separation at any and all costs is beginning to cost the province dearly. Perceived lack of social stability makes investors hesitate and jobs evaporate.

That cost has been expressed in yet another steady migration of people from the province, seeking security and lifestyle in a more relaxed social atmosphere elsewhere within Canada. According to the Canadian Institute for Identities and Migration people have been departing from Quebec at an alarming rate. In the first nine months of 2013, 28,439 left the province for more welcoming parts of Canada, most headed for Ontario, then Alberta and British Columbia.

Immigrants are still drawn to the province, but a net loss of people to other provinces has occurred, for a third consecutive year. Almost 12,000 more people abandoned the province for other provinces than had arrived, up from a loss of 7,700 the year previous, and about 4.400 the year before that. The latest rise in departures corresponds with the election of the PQ minority government, though again, it's the economy that's the driver more than politics.

Quebec's tax on the first $41,00- in earned income is 16%, compared with 5% for a similar income in Ontario. The next $40,000 earned in Quebec is taxed at 20%, whereas Ontarians pay 9.25% tax. Above $82,000 earnings in Quebec comes taxed at 24% to 25.75%; in Ontario the range stands at 22% to 13%. Balanced against one of the richest social services webs in Canada, the high cost does impact people sufficiently to encourage them to seek improved prospects elsewhere.

Quebec is once again becoming increasingly left out of foreign investment. Lawsuits have had the obvious effect of undermining natural gas exploration in respect of the provincial moratorium in hydraulic fracturing. Opposition to plans for a west-east pipeline from Alberta to the east coast characterizes Quebec, while enthusiasm has met the prospect in other provinces. A poor investment climate versus a promising one.

So while the Values Charter is responsible for much concern and anger among cultural and religious groups for its plan to ban public employees from displaying religious symbols, and the tightening of the already onerous laws governing French language use are problematic to the economic security of the province, it is its economic fragility that induces people to leave a province incorrigible in its desire to protect itself from foreign influence of any kind.

Quebec Premier Pauline Marois responds to opposition questions at the Quebec City legislature on Nov. 7, 2013.  (JACQUES BOISSINOT/THE CANADIAN PRESS)

 

The pure laine French will soon have their province all to themselves, as they so fervently desire it would appear, even if it results in presenting as an impoverished sovereignty with no need any longer for the rest of Canada to pony up transfer payments to shore up its preferred way of life.