Quebec budget gives Nunavik money for tourism

Nunavimmiut – along with people in the rest of Quebec – will face a bigger tax burden following the tabling of the provincial budget March 30.

Facing a $4.5 billion deficit, Quebec, the most heavily-indebted province in Canada, hopes to use the increases to balance its budget by 2013-14.

All Quebecers face an increase in sales tax – to 9.5 per cent by 2012 – as well as hikes to electricity rates and fuel taxes.

Quebec also announced an annual health care user fee, which will come into effect this summer and rise to $200 by 2012 — although it’s not clear how this will affect beneficiaries of the James Bay and Northern Quebec Agreement who receive free health care under the terms of this deal.

Jacques Delorme, a spokesperson from the provincial finance department, said Nunavimmiut would pay the same as everyone else.

The region’s Inuit and non-Inuit residents are likely to see changes to their tax credits with the creation of a new “solidarity tax credit.”

The new measure groups together Quebec sales tax credits, property tax refunds as well as the refundable tax deduction for northern residents.

The northern tax deduction was created to recognize that the cost of living is higher in the North than elsewhere and is intended to reduce tax paid by northern wage-earners.

These three tax measures will now be grouped into a single refundable tax credit “to better meet the needs of low- and middle-income households,” the budget reads.

The new credit will “provide more assistance to households to reduce QST- and housing-related costs, while acknowledging that inhabitants of northern villages must bear a higher cost of living than their counterparts elsewhere.”

The budget also left room for the development to Premier Jean Charest’s northern plan, his “plan nord,” to stimulate the economy above the 49th parallel.

The plan announced Quebec would spend $57 million to develop mining, energy, infrastructure across the North.

A plan outlining how this will be done should be available later this year.

Quebec plans to spend $7.5 million rolling out its northern plan over the next three years.

The budget will also inject $6 million into northern tourism over the next three years, money to help build up infrastructure for visitors and to improve the outfitting industry.

This money will position the northern part of Quebec as “a world-class tourist destination,” said Quebec tourism minister Nicole Ménard, who visited Nunavik for the first time last month.

To pay for on-going development of Nunavik’s five northern parks, the budget sets aside an additional $7.5 million. The creation of the parks will help the government reach its goal of protecting half of northern Quebec from industrial activity.

About $7.5 million will also be spent learning more about the North’s environment and biology, while $4.5 million will be spent on improving the knowledge of northern geography using techniques like high-resolution satellite images for topographical mapping.

For projects that do not qualify for any government funding under existing programs, Quebec has also allocated $6 million for regional and local projects, such as providing high-speed internet service to residents.