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No single party was responsible for its deteriorating public finances

What has been the economic results of this fiscal progress? RBC economics describes it as “lift-off.”

Economic growth outpaced Canada as a whole in the first quarter of 2017 and is projected to remain strong the rest of the year and into 2018. The unemployment rate is now below Ontario’s and represents the province’s lowest levels since Statistics Canada began keeping track in 1976. During the six months ending in January 2017, in fact, Quebec was responsible for almost four of 10 new jobs created across the country.

Detractors who warn about so-called “austerity” failed to account for the extent to which the province’s poor finances were undermining confidence or how the government’s efforts would bring market stability.

Ottawa and Ontario are presently making the same mistake. Just check their respective budgets.

Ottawa and Ontario are presently making the same mistake. Just check their budgets

The federal government’s budgetary deficit may be small in relative terms and its overall fiscal position remains generally positive. But its failure to articulate a plan to control spending or return to budgetary balance will eventually catch up to it. Short-termism invariably has long-term consequences in the form of higher debt-servicing costs, higher taxes and ultimately weakened economic confidence.

Ontario’s rapid rise in public debt in recent years has been associated with a relatively poor economic performance including with regards to investment, jobs and household incomes. The government now purports to have balanced its budget, but its debt levels keep rising and the province’s debt-to-GDP ratio is projected to remain above pre-recession levels until 2040. Quebec’s experience shows that greater fiscal ambition could be a boost to Ontario’s economy.

Of course, there’s more work to be done to keep Quebec’s debt burden falling and to improve its tax competitiveness. But progress to date is positive. A focus on controlling spending and balancing the budget is paying off just as it did at the federal level in the late 1990s, in the United Kingdom in recent years, and elsewhere.

It’s another practical example of how lifting the heavy weight of deficits and debt off the economy can produce lift-off with regards to jobs and growth.

Sean Speer is a Munk Senior Fellow at the Macdonald-Laurier Institute.