For a Plan to Save our SMEs in All of Quebec’s Regions

On the eve of the Portrait of Quebec’s 2020-2021 Economic and Financial Situation, the Leader of the Official Opposition, Ms. Dominique Anglade, accompanied by Mr. André Fortin, Parliamentary House Leader and Critic for Public Finances, Mr. Monsef Derraji, Deputy House Leader and Critic for Small and Medium Enterprises, Innovation, Labour and Employment and by Mr. Carlos J. Leitão, Critic for Economy and the Fight Against Climate Change, reiterated that tomorrow Quebecers will be expecting a genuine budget update from the Minister of Finance and to that end presented a series of tax measures for swift action in all sectors of our economy in an effort to generate a true economic recovery for Quebec.

4 months ago, this government presented us with a budget without taking into consideration the economic uncertainty related to COVID-19; today our public finances are no longer the same. That is why we are asking the Minister of Finance for a genuine budget update. We also think that it is imperative to be thinking about a plan to save our SMEs that will benefit all of our regions. Our entrepreneurs have been waiting weeks for the direct support and their demands have been left unanswered for too long now. The reality is that the Coalition Avenir Québec has forgotten about all of our small and medium-sized businesses. It is time that they make concrete efforts to save our regions and ensure economic vitality in all four corners of Quebec.

-Dominique Anglade, Leader of the Official Opposition

For a genuine economic recovery we are asking the Minister of Finance to:

• Support access to digital technologies among businesses, especially SMEs;
• Help commercial and residential buildings that still run on natural gas and oil convert to electricity;
• Encourage economic recovery by supporting vulnerable businesses and establishing an Economic Recovery Fund which would support restaurateurs and leaseholders who have been hit especially hard by the current health crisis;
• Regroup all of the programs, subsidies and investments earmarked for climate transition as well as economic and environmental development into a “Climate Bank” that will coordinate initiatives for the transition towards a carbon neutral economic at an arm’s length from the government;
• Encourage remote working with the understanding that accelerating spending for companies encouraging remote working will prove very expensive for companies, and possibly employees, as they acquire the necessary equipment;
  Evaluate the financial impact of allowing restaurateurs to keep the equivalent of the QST they have collected;
• Stimulate private renovation expenses through developing a program of “deep renovation” which prioritizes the renovation of low-income residential buildings;
• Establish an IMMOVERT program by encouraging eco-energy renovation expenses among homeowners and residential rental building owners and support commercial buildings upgrades- owners will make significant investments in their efforts to adapt their buildings within the context of COVID-19. They could include redesigning and purchasing equipment to improve buildings’ energy consumption and air quality;
• Create a 20% tax credit for all renovation work undertaken by owner occupants and rental building owners, and enhance this credit to 30% when the renovation work is aimed at energy efficiency;
• Look at implementing a refundable tax credit inspired by a measure dealing with investment and innovation (C3i) for commercial building owners;
• Allow accelerated amortization for certain expenses generated by owners of rental properties;
• Prevent the eviction of small businesses that are no longer able to afford the cost of their rental space.