Blurred. This is the feeling that ex-Health Minister Gaétan Barrette feels on the issue of budget surpluses linked to the Couillard government’s austerity policies.
“We were cheated that there was surplus and that we found out about it after the election. Imagine all the things I could have done right if we had put the surpluses in the big health and education networks to good use over the last two years of the mandate (…), “he said. He started in the Show “La Joute” on Thursday afternoon.
Mr Barrette was reacting to the exit of former finance minister Carlos Leitao, who admitted in a podcast to Gérald Fillion that he “regrets” the budget cuts.
- Yasmine Abdelfadel and Marc-André Leclerc return to the statements made by former Health Minister Gaétan Barrette above QUB radio :
“I’m glad he said it, Carlos, because he’s right. We went too fast, we should have slowed down and recalibrated the shot,” he added.
“We ministers, never, never during our tenure have we had a single indication that we had surpluses. How do you think we felt when we called for budgets and found out a week after the 2018 election that there was a $7.6 billion surplus?”
“The moment in politics that I remember most strongly (…) was when I showed up in front of the finance minister and Martin Coiteux after the budget and told them: ‘I can’t do the budget, renew the services next year , which we did last year, it’s just not possible”. The answer I got from Martin Coiteux was: “That’s another debate, that costs too much, that’s your budget,” said the former minister.
He also thinks Martin Coiteux is doing well given the circumstances.
“The person who is most comfortable today is Martin Coiteux, although he should be the most uncomfortable because he was the one who said no vigorously.”
Watch the rest of his talk in the video above.