A Radio-Canada report published Saturday morning<\/a> reveals Eric Girard wrote to Fr\u00e9chette earlier this month to express his concerns over her spending, writing that “Quebecers want a responsible premier who doesn’t spend every which way.”<\/p>\nSince taking office in April, Fr\u00e9chette has already said the government will reimburse part of the welcome tax paid by first-time homebuyers as well as the carbon tax for farmers. She also announced a tax cut for small and medium-sized businesses.<\/p>\n
She is expected to announce, as well, the elimination of the Quebec Sales Tax, or QST, on certain grocery and pharmacy items in the coming days.<\/p>\n
That measure is expected to cost $100 million, which brings the total amount of her pledges to around $330 million so far.<\/p>\n
The Quebec budget allocated $250 million per year for five years for the new leader of the Coalition Avenir Qu\u00e9bec to deliver on her promises.<\/p>\n
Doing our jobs, premier says<\/p>\n
Fr\u00e9chette defended her spending as she arrived at a party meeting in L\u00e9vis, Que., noting that Quebecers are having a tough time due to pressures such as the conflict in the Middle East.<\/p>\n
“We’re thinking about the cost of groceries, the cost of housing \u2026 and gas as well,” she told reporters.<\/p>\n
“The minister of finance is doing his job. Now, I’m doing mine, which is to find a balance between managing public finances and addressing the needs of Quebecers.”<\/p>\n
WATCH | Garages and motorists taking a hit as oil prices soar:![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/1779582010_182_default.jpg\")
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How Montreal mechanics and consumers are grappling with increasing oil costs<\/p>\n
Many Montreal mechanics and motorists are stuck in limbo after oil and natural gas prices skyrocketed in North America. Both business owners and consumers are trying to navigate the consequences of the price hikes.<\/p>\n
Girard, meanwhile, downplayed the importance of his message to Fr\u00e9chette, saying he had written “thousands” of similar messages during his time at the National Bank of Canada.<\/p>\n
“That’s my style: concise, direct,” he said. “I’m the guardian of public finances.”<\/p>\n
Environment Minister Pascale D\u00e9ry also felt that the message from Girard wasn’t unusual. <\/p>\n
“There’s nothing in there that surprises me, that’s concerning, or that’s out of the ordinary,” she said.<\/p>\n
Opposition parties react<\/p>\n
Fr\u00e9chette’s rivals, however, were quick to pounce.<\/p>\n
“Ms. Fr\u00e9chette, like Mr. Legault before her, continues to spend lavishly in an attempt to win over voters,” Liberal Leader Charles Milliard wrote on X. “As if Quebecers didn’t see right through their game.”<\/p>\n
Parti Qu\u00e9b\u00e9cois Leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon said the news was “undeniable proof” that nothing has changed in the CAQ party since Fr\u00e9chette succeeded Fran\u00e7ois Legault as leader. <\/p>\n
“They’ve learned nothing from their failures,” he wrote.<\/p>\n
Fr\u00e9chette is presiding over her party’s first general council meeting since becoming premier. She was due to deliver a speech Saturday afternoon.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Listen to this article Estimated 3 minutes The audio version of this article is generated by AI-based technology.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":689583,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[49,48,295,66],"class_list":["post-689582","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-environment","tag-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/689582","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=689582"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/689582\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/689583"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=689582"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=689582"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=689582"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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