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If the Coalition Avenir Québec forms a government this fall, they’ll drown the province’s finances in “a sea of red ink.”

Jean-François Lisée ran the gamut of metaphors to describe the CAQ’s fiscal record; the party would lead Quebec into an economic “black hole,” it would raid public services and its leader has a “calculator where (his) heart should be.”

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Lisée, the Parti Québécois leader, released a study Saturday that projects massive deficits under the CAQ’s plan to cut taxes. By the PQ’s reckoning, the CAQ would run a $1.54 billion deficit in its first budget if it keeps its promise to lower taxes by $700 million if elected.

CAQ leader François Legault, for his part, has argued that he could find nearly $1 billion in efficiencies to cover the tax cuts.

“It’s a financial plan held together with duct tape and twine,” said Nicolas Marceau, the PQ’s candidate in the north shore Rousseau riding. “There can be efficiencies, the state can deliver its services more efficiently but for your budget to rest on $1 billion in efficiencies, it’s just lying to the population.