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Public Sector Reform

Le Point de l’IEDM sur les prix de l’électricité

Le gouvernement entreprend cette semaine une consultation sur la politique énergétique. Au coeur du débat, l’analyse des coûts de production et des prix de vente de l’électricité permet d’apercevoir certains résultats pervers de la politique actuelle. Ainsi 1) l’interfinancement nuit aux économies d’énergie par les consommateurs résidentiels et
2) l’exportation d’électricité est de loin plus payante que d’en vendre à des alumineries à un tarif basé sur le coût moyen.

The road to renewing public transit

It is difficult to envisage a reform of public transit in Quebec without the spectre of privatization brandished. Over the last 15 years, however, public authorities in many metropolitan areas the world have established alternative strategies for developing and managing urban transport necessarily resorting to privatization. Their success has provided for a renewal of public transit.

The Pros and Cons of Public Service User Fees

Without fanfare, the Quebec government recently took a sharp turn towards implementing user fees for public services. Beginning with its first budget in June 2003, the government stopped reimbursing parents for fees required by elementary and secondary schools. Then it announced an increase in contributions to the drug insurance plan and lifted the freeze on electricity rate increases. In November it announced an increase in fees at childcare centres and allowed public transit corporations to hike fares. This is just the beginning.

Le démantèlement de l’État-providence au Québec: mythe ou réalité?

The history of public finance in Quebec since the 1960s can be summed up as follows: rapid spending growth and accumulated deficits until the mid-1990s, followed by a few years of budget cuts and elimination of the deficit, and then a resumption of spending growth right up to now. Contrary to what some people suggest, the Quebec government has not undergone a drastic slimming down in the last few years. Spending growth has continued since 1997.

The Economic Arguments Against Municipal Mergers

Despite strong local opposition, the government of Quebec has forged ahead with its ambitious project of municipal reorganization. This means that beginning January 1st, 2002, the 28 municipalities on the island of Montreal will be amalgamated into a single city divided into 27 boroughs; elsewhere in the province, dozens of other municipalities have also been forced to merge. However, the debate over the merits of this reorganization is set to continue.

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