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2012 Québec budget: Timidity and omissions

By
Simon Tremblay-Pepin
| March 26, 2012

On March 20, Québec's Finance Minister, Raymond Bachand, tabled his third budget. This budget year follows in the wake of those of the last few years. The government is still insisting on transforming public service funding in accordance with the user-fee revolution logic (so dear to Mr. Bachand's heart), developing the Plan Nord, and reforming the pension plan.

Limited royalties

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Nurses vehemently oppose user fees in Quebec
April 9, 2010 |
Nurses for Medicare opposes the Quebec government's decision to implement a flat health tax and user fees of $25 per visit for patients.
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Quebec health care user fees Canadian Federation of Nurses Unions
Eric Mang

The problem with health care user fees

By
Eric Mang
| April 1, 2010

User fees can be useful. They can subsidize a public service, they can offer an understanding of the value or benefit of a service, and they can help determine the quality and quantity of a desired output.

User fees can discourage negative behaviour such as driving (through road tolls, congestion charges), pollution (tied to volume of waste) and water consumption (to encourage conservation).

But if user fees prohibit certain beneficial activities or they discriminate on ability to pay, then the user fee attached to the public service in question is no longer equitable. In short, efficiency and cost should not trump fairness and equity and there is a risk of this happening with the application of certain user fees.

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Albertans pay highest out-of-pocket costs for services
February 4, 2010 |
Seventeen years of deregulation and privatization have resulted in the highest out-of-pocket costs in Canada for health care, child care, utilities, and education in Alberta.
Tags:
privatization Alberta deregulation user fees services Parkland Institute
Pina Belperio

Whistler's parking woes

By
Pina Belperio
| June 26, 2009

If you thought Whistler was expensive before, things are about to get even pricier. Pay parking has arrived in the resort. The new fees are not sitting well with locals and tourists and are only fueling mounting anti-Olympic sentiments.

User pay parking had been on the books for some time, but it's no coincidence that it's being unraveled in time for the Olympics. Most business owners say they were never consulted prior to pay parking being instituted.

I find it ironic that over $650 million was been spent on upgrading the Sea to Sky Highway and expanding the "vehicular conduit," yet there's no place to park when you arrive.

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