Eric Girard introduced his bill freezing government bills

Under this Bill 1, which contains only nine articles, most government tariffs cannot increase by more than 3% between 1^eh January 2023 and December 31, 2026.

The rates covered by this ceiling apply to:

• Driving license and registration
• Contributions to CHSLD for single and semi-private rooms
• Hospital parking rates
• Contributions to daycare services
• tuition
• Hunting and fishing license
• Access rights to Sépaq parks
• Immigrant Selection Application Fee

Tariffs of state corporations with a commercial vocation such as the Société des alcools du Québec, for example, as well as insurance plans, environmental royalties and tariffs for large private companies are not included in the bill .

A separate bill for Hydro-Québec

As for Hydro-Québec’s rates, they will be the subject of a bill separately in particular because of the role played by the Régie de l’énergie in Hydro-Québec’s rate-setting process, explains Eric Girard.

The minister also promised to table the Hydro tariffs bill as soon as possible as it should be reviewed on 1^eh next April.

” This is really a good measure. In the economic sense, on the one hand, we help Quebeckers; on the other hand, by limiting the increase in tariffs, the increase in inflation is limited. »

Without the adoption of this measure, which is estimated at $1.1 billion over five years, the indexation of government tariffs will be more than 6% in 2023, explained the Minister of Finance, referring to record levels that inflation has reached in today’s world.

The imposition of this cap does not mean that government rates will increase by 3%, explained Minister Girard.

%, le tarif en vertu de l’indexation va s’appliquer. Si l’indexation amenait le tarif à un niveau supérieur à 3%, le plafond va s’appliquer”,”text”:”Si le tarif dans les quatre prochaines années est inférieur à 3%, le tarif en vertu de l’indexation va s’appliquer. Si l’indexation amenait le tarif à un niveau supérieur à 3%, le plafond va s’appliquer”}}”>If the tariff in the next four years is less than 3%, the tariff under indexation will be applied. If indexation brings the tariff to a level higher than 3%, the cap will be appliedhe specified.

Asked about his government’s refusal to opt for a rate freeze, as proposed in particular by Québec solidaire, Eric Girard explained his decision: What the opposition proposed was only a freeze of one year. We felt it was important to provide four years of predictability on the one hand, and on the other hand, we have enough history in Quebec to know that when we freeze rates, after that, when we ‘want to thaw them, which creates tension.

Insisted that his Bill 1 was really very simpleEric Girard appealed for the cooperation of the opposition so that it could be ratified as soon as possible.

Oath to the king: QS submits its bill

However, it was not only inflation that occupied members of the National Assembly this morning. The saga surrounding the refusal of three Parti Québécois deputies to swear in King Charles III to be allowed to sit continued as Paul St-Pierre-Plamondon and his two colleagues, Pascal Bérubé and Joël Arsenau, were prevented from entering the Blue Room to participate in the work of the Chamber.

Consequently, the second bill tabled in the National Assembly on Thursday morning was presented by the deputy in solidarity with Jean-Lesage, Sol Zanetti, requesting a change in the parliamentary rules to make the oath to the king optional during the swearing-in of representatives in the National Assembly.

This is the second time that Mr. Zanetti has filed a bill in the National Assembly to remove the obligation to swear an oath to British sovereignty in order to sit as a Member of Parliament in Quebec. The first bill he introduced in 2018 died on the order paper during the last legislature.

Numbered 190, the new QS bill aims to recognize the oath MNAs take to the people of Québec as the only mandatory oath of office.

This change of parliamentary rules as the subject of relative unity within the parties represented in the National Assembly, the parliamentary leader of Québec solidaire, Alexandre Leduc, declared that his party does not consider it necessary to hold hearings, proposing to the Assembly a speedy adoption of the bill at the end of next week.

It should be noted that the Legault government must present its own bill on the oath of office to the king possibly next week.