Digital transformation at the forefront of the economic recovery

Yesterday, the Minister of Finance, Éric Girard, tabled the Quebec government’s 2020–2021 budget. The Association québécoise des technologies (AQT) was waiting for it and noted a real desire to help all industries increase their productivity by leveraging technology. The economic recovery will be driven by new measures to support digital transformation, among other things. To achieve this, Quebec will invest more than $750 million over 5 years to accelerate the acquisition of new technologies by businesses. The government aims to upgrade several sectors, including health and social services, with a major shift towards cloud computing. That is excellent news. For one thing, it will result in systems that make it easier to book appointments so that the public can have online access to all the appointments available on the front end. Education is another major concern to the government. They have announced an unprecedented acceleration of the digital transformation for this sector. One of the key objectives is to significantly increase the number of digital devices available for student use. The pandemic highlighted the importance of technopedagogy—a real tool for success. To support businesses in making a digital transformation and drive a quick economic recovery, Quebec plans to allocate additional financing for information technology resources. By 2025–2026, an additional $112.5 million will have been allocated to hire more resources in this field. The tax credit for investment and innovation (C3i), which was introduced in 2020, will be enhanced. The rate will be doubled from 20% to 40%, depending on the region, until December 31, 2022. C3i has replaced the investment tax credit and is fully refundable for SMEs but non-refundable for large companies. The Quebec government also plans to make all digital transformation projects eligible for the tax holiday until December 31, 2024. Last, the tax rate for the 70,000 SMEs in the province will also gradually be reduced. As SMEs have been affected by the implementation of health measures, they’ll see their rate drop from 4% to 3.2%—the same rate as in Ontario. That translates to government spending of $346.6 million over 5 years.