Party Financial Frameworks: Comparative Grid

Comparison conventions

Common horizon: 2026-2027 to 2030-2031, five fiscal years.
Common reference scenario: the August 2026 pre-election report, reviewed by the Auditor General, including the $5.85B gap to close.
“Total commitments” reflects the figure published by each party, noting its definition where it differs (the PLQ’s figure includes the budgetary impact of the QIP and of debt service).
Where a party does not publish an indicator, the cell reads “not published” rather than being inferred.
Basis for infrastructure comparisons: Quebec Infrastructure Plan 2026-2036, Secrétariat du Conseil du trésor — $167.0B over ten years, of which 71% goes to asset maintenance.

Overview — key figures

Indicator	PLQ	PQ	CAQ	PCQ
Publication date	Sept. 13, 2026	Sept. 15, 2026	Aug. 30, 2026	Sept. 9, 2026
Total commitments	$11.9B	$6.5B (net −$184M)	$9.7B ($9.2B in table)	$52.57B
Return to budget balance	2029-2030	2028-2029	2029-2030	2029-2030
Budget balance 2026-2027	−$7,241M	−$6,489M	−$7,676M	Doc. not obtained
Budget balance 2030-2031	+$136M	+$568M	+$311M	Doc. not obtained
$5.85B gap to close	Eliminated	Reduced to $2.10B	Carried forward unresolved	Doc. not obtained
Contingency provision (5 yrs)	$4.0B	$5.0B	$3.0B	Doc. not obtained
Spending growth (CAGR)	2.4%	Not comparable	2.6%	Doc. not obtained
— of which portfolio spending	2.2%	Not comparable	2.4%	Doc. not obtained
Health / education / higher ed.	≈5% / 3% / 5%	Not broken down	Not broken down	Doc. not obtained
Quebec Infrastructure Plan (QIP)	$195B (+28)	Unchanged ($167B)	$180B (+13)	Unchanged ($167B)
Asset maintenance (71% under current QIP)	75%, in law	Unchanged	75%	Not addressed
Net debt 2030-2031 (% of GDP)	36.7%	35.5%	36.4%	Doc. not obtained
Public service headcount	−12,000 FTE	-16,000	−2,900	−20,000
External verification	Yes, unnamed firm	Yes, A. Noël (Laval U.)	No	No

QIP comparison basis: $167.0B over ten years, of which $105.8B (71%) goes to asset maintenance. Figures in parentheses are measured against this base.

Overview — where the money comes from

Indicator	PLQ	PQ	CAQ	PCQ
Savings and spending cuts	6,025 (41%)	6,651 (39%)	—	60,340
Additional revenue	4,357 (30%)	2,585 (15%)	495 (5%)	Doc. not obtained
Additional federal transfers	4,360 (30%)	4,357 (25%)	4,357 (44%)	Doc. not obtained
Other sources	—	3,603 (21%)	5,000 (51%)	Doc. not obtained
Total balance improvement	14,742	17,196	9,852	Doc. not obtained

In millions of dollars over five years, and as a share of the total improvement in the budget balance. PCQ the party puts its spending reduction at $60.34B.

Platform commitments outside the financial framework

Party	Public service headcount	Other costed commitments announced outside the framework
PCQ	20,000 positions; permanent hiring freeze and 5.6% annual attrition, mainly through attrition	Abolition of Santé Québec and the Green Fund (FECC); law capping spending growth at inflation plus population growth; withdrawal from the carbon market; possible suspension of the gas tax; elimination of interprovincial trade barriers; 20% more projects under the QIP for the same spending, equivalent to $34B
PLQ	12,000 FTE positions over five years, $1.7B in savings; health, education and culture spared; positions targeted mainly in management and administrative services	QIP raised to $195B starting 2027 and 75% of it dedicated to asset maintenance until 80% of infrastructure is rated in satisfactory condition; QIP planning horizon extended to 25 years; municipal share raised from 4.4% to 8%; $240M over four years for homelessness; widening of Highway 50 to four lanes
CAQ	2,900 positions by March 31, 2029 through an early-retirement program, $507M in savings over five years; health, education and higher education spared	Dedicated state-efficiency team reporting directly to the premier; privatization of certain public services; revival of public-private partnerships for schools and seniors’ homes; assessment of delivery method for every public project over $10M; Quebec catalogue of standardized models and components
PQ	No numerical target; $6.3B in bureaucracy reduction booked in the framework	Quebec City–Lévis third link reserved for public transit, with the highway link option dropped; $95/month mobility pass; increase in public transit investment under the QIP, not costed; QST refund on new homes and self-construction up to $45,000

None of the four parties includes its workforce-reduction target in a table within its financial framework: the figures come from press conferences and platform documents. Across a public service of roughly 80,000 full-time equivalents, which has grown by more than 10,000 under the Legault governments, targets range from 3.6% of staff at the CAQ to 25% at the PCQ.

What the comparison shows

The PQ returns to balance a year ahead of the other three, in 2028-2029 rather than 2029-2030. It is also the only one whose net debt ends up below the pre-election scenario: 35.5% of GDP versus 36.0%, compared with 36.7% for the PLQ and 36.4% for the CAQ.
The $5.85B gap to close is handled three different ways. The PLQ eliminates it through named measures. The PQ eliminates $3.75B of it and carries $2.10B forward. The CAQ carries the entire amount forward, with no offsetting measures.
The three documented returns to balance rest on razor-thin surpluses, under 1% of total revenue.
On business assistance: the PCQ cuts $19.47B to fund a corporate tax cut to 4.7%, the PQ cuts $8.89B for a cut to 9.5%, the PLQ cuts only $1.4B without touching the SME rate, and the CAQ cuts nothing.
The three parties analyzed all reduce the contingency provision: from $8.0B in the pre-election report to $5.0B for the PQ, $4.0B for the PLQ, and $3.0B for the CAQ.
The three frameworks analyzed all assume a very similar amount of additional federal transfers ($4,357-4,360M), with near-identical annual profiles a sign of a shared technical assumption rather than three distinct political bets.
All four parties want to shrink the size of the state: 20,000 positions targeted by the PCQ, 12,000 by the PLQ, 2,900 by the CAQ, and no numerical target from the PQ.
The PCQ is the only party relying on dynamic effects and resource revenue: $5.8B deducted from the cost of its corporate tax cut, 8% economic growth attributed to tax economist Luc Godbout, and $758M in projected natural gas revenue.
On infrastructure, the PLQ and the CAQ increase the QIP (by $28B and $13B over ten years, respectively); the PQ and the PCQ leave it unchanged.