Quebec’s Minister of Finance stressed that the province continues to support the passport system and rejects the notion of developing a national securities regulator.

Finance minister, Monique Jérôme-Forget, released her government’s priorities for the upcoming federal-provincial meeting of finance ministers in Saskatoon. She noted that, “the issue of securities should not be at the top of the federal government’s list of priorities while the global economic slowdown deepens.”

“Québec favours implementation of the passport system among the provinces. Should a federal bill for a single securities commission be tabled, Québec will not hesitate to turn to the courts to protect its interests,” she said.

“The passport system has proven itself. The federal government should lend its support to this constructive approach rather than moving in a direction that leads straight to years of legal disputes,” Jérôme-Forget concluded.

Instead, she stressed that supporting employment is the Québec government’s priority. “We believe that the federal and provincial governments must work closely with the shared objective of supporting economic activity so that we can counter, as effectively as possible, the possible impact of the global economic slowdown on employment and the purchasing power of all Canadians,” Jérôme-Forget said.

Apart from defending provincial jurisdiction over securities regulation, the Québec government’s priorities for the meeting are: the continuation of a fair equalization program, and the development of federal measures to support employment and economic activity in the short term.

“The federal government must not reduce its transfers to the provinces on account of equalization at a time when we have to develop the financial leeway to support employment and economic activity. Unilaterally changing the rules of the game in this period of budgetary difficulty is counter-productive,” Jérôme-Forget stated.

She added that it expects the federal government to: accelerate federal infrastructure spending and simplify federal-provincial agreements to get projects started; introduce additional measures for manpower training and support for older workers who lose their job; add substantial new capital to Export Development Canada and the Business Development Bank of Canada so businesses can access credit more easily; introduce targeted measures to support certain industrial sectors dealing with particular difficulties, specifically the manufacturing industries and the forestry and mining sectors; and, bring forward specific measures to stimulate sectors of the future, like the information technology industry, and develop strategic infrastructures, like high-speed internet.

IE