Following the presentation of the 2021-2022 budget in March 2021, Quebec's Minister of Finance, Eric Girard, called upon the academic economist community to examine Quebec's balanced budget and debt reduction legislation and to propose ways to improve it.

CIRANO has been invited by the Chaire en fiscalité et finances publiques (CFFP) of the Université de Sherbrooke to contribute, along with the  Comité des politiques publiques de l’Association des économistes québécois and the Institut du Québec, to the exchanges in response to the Minister of Finance request.

About twenty experts, including 4 CIRANO researchers and Fellows  (Luc Godbout, Marcelin Joanis, Pierre-Carl Michaud and Miville Tremblay), participated in the panel to discuss three central questions:

About twenty experts, including 4 researchers and CIRANO Visiting Fellow (Luc Godbout, Marcelin Joanis, Pierre-Carl Michaud and Miville Tremblay), participated in the panel to discuss three central questions:

- What budgetary targets or rules would ensure sound management of public finances?

- What improvements could be made to the Balanced Budget Act, based on best practices in this area?

- What debt target the Quebec government should aim for and why?

This roundtable brought out a consensus as to the relevance of these laws for improving the state of public finances in Quebec, but also allowed the identification of avenues of improvement for each of them, compiled in a summary document 

« Collectif (2021), Les règles budgétaires du Québec : réflexions d’un panel d’experts, Regard CFFP n° R2021/15, Chaire de recherche en fiscalité et en finances publiques, 15 p. »