At this time when the PQ is mathematically proving that Quebec is rich enough to be master of its own house, and when the federal office of the Parliamentary Budget Officer ranks Quebec at the top of the most financially viable provinces, know that Quebec is doing relatively well internationally.
This is evident from two studies just published by researchers Suzie St-Cerny and Luc Godbout from the Research Chair in Taxation and Public Finance at the University of Sherbrooke: “Looking at Collective Enrichment: Understanding, Get Along and Act” and “Collapse in the Indicators of living standards and well-being”.
Based on the latest World Bank data based on real GDP “in U.S. dollars at purchasing power parity,” Quebec ranks 22nd among the 31 “advanced economies that are members of the OECD” to which we added Quebec.
Canada is in 15th place. From this select group of around thirty countries, Luxembourg, Ireland, Switzerland, Norway and the United States occupy the top five places in the ranking.
Let’s not fool ourselves. Quebec is still not very rich if we compare ourselves with the United States, quite the opposite. As measured by GDP per capita in U.S. dollars, the standard of living in the United States is 52.3% higher than in Quebec. Our wealth gap is 15.2% with Canada and 23.1% with the 31 advanced OECD economies.
From an interprovincial perspective, Quebec’s standard of living has still declined significantly compared to the oil producing provinces and Ontario.
The good news? Since 1990, Quebec has significantly improved its real GDP per capita gap with Ontario, reducing it by 8.1 percentage points. The gap today is 12.3%. In 2022 it was 14%.
And François Legault’s CAQ government’s goal is to reduce the gap with Ontario to under 10% by the end of 2026. And in 2036 to 0%!
According to researchers St-Cerny and Godbout, if Quebec had managed to close the 14% gap with Ontario in 2022, the following would have been an asset to Quebec’s economy:
- Impact on real GDP: +$59.2 billion
- Impact on GDP per capita: +$6,804
- Nominal GDP Impact: +$77.6 billion
- Impact on the government’s own revenue: +$16.3 billion
- Average effect on salary per employee: +$9,000
Even better
In order to assess the quality of living standards in a country, not only the prosperity indicator of real GDP per capita is decisive.
The Human Development Index, which includes the three dimensions of health, income and education, also counts.
Out of a total of 130 countries, Canada ranks 15th. And if we include Quebec, we would be in 16th place. The first three places go to Switzerland, Norway and Iceland.
On the Global Happiness Index, Quebec now performs better than Canada, ranking 8th out of the 130 countries assessed. Canada ranks 13th. On the Happiness Index podium we find Finland, Denmark and Iceland.
Of the 41 OECD countries where the Better Life Index was measured, Canada ranks 10th. And Quebec’s place in Canada: 4th.
