Quebecers pay lower user fees than rest of country: task force

A provincial task force has recommended Quebecers pay higher user fees for public services, including hydro, auto insurance and university tuition.

The panel, which was asked to audit user fees and tariffs, found Quebec collects $6.6 billion in service fees annually, about $1.5 billion less than other provinces, said Claude Montmarquette, who led the study group.

Quebecers pay an average of $651 less per year for public services, compared to Canadians in other provinces, and the discrepancy has created a false sense of the true cost of resources, Montmarquette found.

Past freezes on hydro rates and university tuition have resulted in people assuming the costs of those services don't rise over time, said panel member Joseph Facal, a former Parti Québécois cabinet minister.

"When fees have been frozen for a long time, people tend to lose sight of reality, and believe it is natural for fees not to be raised," when an increase could encourage people to use resources more responsibly, Facal said.

Driver licensing, highway tolls, tuition fees and daycare costs are all areas in which Quebec fees could be adjusted upward, toward national averages, he said.

Increasing the ceiling on university tuition fees would better reflect the true cost of education, but the province would have to increase student bursary and loan programs for lower-income students, Montmarquette said.

Residential, commercial and industrial water meters would also rein in consumption habits in Quebec, which uses more water than the Canadian average — which is already high among Western industrialized countries, he said.

Tolls on new highways and bridges and in the greater Montreal region could also generate infrastructure revenue and tackle congestion, the task force concluded.

Quebec will have to address the growing gulf between the cost of services and revenue generated by fees, but the task force doesn't expect the Liberal government to take immediate action on the recommendations, Montmarquette said.

Health-care user fees were not included in the study because a previous provincial commission, headed by Claude Castonguay, already studied the question and made recommendations earlier this year.

Castonguay's report also urged the government to consider user fees to pay for ballooning health-care costs.