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QUEBEC — It would be easy for a Quebec government basking in the glow of financial surpluses to conclude the province has arrived on easy street after years of austerity and a reputation as one of Canada’s poorest cousins.

Think again.

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There’s no doubt Quebec’s financial picture has improved over the last few years, helped along the way by record-breaking economic growth and the prudent management of spending initiated by the previous Liberal government. Those acts produced a string of balanced budgets starting in the 2015-2016 fiscal year.

While austerity was politically unpopular and played a role in the Liberal defeat in the 2018 election, the Coalition Avenir Québec today finds itself benefiting from that fiscal bounce. Austerity has again turned up in the most recent government fiscal report card released by Finance Minister Eric Girard Feb. 21.

The data shows the province is swimming in cash. With the first eight months of the 2019-2020 fiscal year behind it, the total surplus is about $4.5 billion.