Canada/Quebec City validates its new budget

Quebec City's 2025 budget was officially approved by the city council on Friday morning, following a 12-10 vote in favor, a formality given the majority held by Mayor Bruno Marchand's party at city hall.

The principal interested party welcomed this good news for citizens, who will see their residential taxes increase by 2.9%, below the inflationary norm of 3.2%.

We're very pleased with this budget, which I think demonstrates by the numbers our immense concern for debt management and our citizens' ability to pay," said Bruno Marchand at the close of the special meeting.

The budget will be $111.3 million higher than in 2024, bringing the total to $2.0154 billion.

This will be the Marchand administration's last fiscal year before the next municipal elections on November 2, 2025.

Budgetary and organizational chaos

The three oppositions at City Hall all expressed reservations about the envelope, particularly with regard to the $60 increase in the registration tax and the exploitation of the climate reserve.

In his first speech, Équipe priorité Québec councillor Stevens Mélançon said that he could not leave the city in a state of budgetary and organizational chaos.

He even praised Lévis's budget management during his speech. The Quebec government recently warned Lévis Mayor Gilles Lehouillier about certain budgetary decisions, notably the taxation of vacant land.

Asked to react to this statement, Bruno Marchand deplored Stevens Mélançon's contribution to the political debate, accusing him of spreading false figures and losing credibility.

I think that extreme exaggerations end up making citizens understand the kind of wood this party is made of. By always crying wolf, you end up not being listened to.

A quote from Bruno Marchand, Mayor of Quebec City

Questioned about the extent of his choice of words, Stevens Mélançon later retracted them in a press scrum, denouncing instead a lack of planning on the part of the Marchand administration.

For its part, the official opposition, led by Claude Villeneuve, justified its vote of no-confidence by pointing to rate increases, such as the registration tax, which the Marchand administration was camouflaging by touting a limited increase in residential taxes.

It's too heavy a burden on people's shoulders," says Claude Villeneuve.

The leader of the Québec d'abord party also criticizes the mayor's cynical and populist intention to dip into the climate reserve to build covered and refrigerated skating rinks.

Jackie Smith, leader of Transition Québec, is also disappointed by this use of the climate fund.

Above all, she deplores the fact that the portion of the budget earmarked for improving the police force is greater than that for the community sector fighting the homelessness crisis.

It's peculiar because [Bruno Marchand] comes from the community sector. It's an about-face," she says.

Source: ici.radio-canada.ca/