Government and Municipalities of Québec

The City of Montreal, through the Customer Experience Office, assesses, every two years, the level of satisfaction of citizens with municipal services. A first wave of satisfaction surveys took place in the fall of 2014. The City of Montreal's satisfaction study includes four surveys. This set...

Debt representing accumulated deficits as defined in the public accounts represents the difference between government liabilities and assets (financial and non-financial). This is “bad debt,” meaning debt that doesn't correspond to any assets.

Net debt refers to debt that was used to finance non-financial assets (fixed assets) and accumulated deficits. It is obtained by subtracting the government's financial assets from its total liabilities.

In recent years, government debt has become increasingly important in discussions about public finances. Citizens are concerned about the level of debt and how it is changing. In 2020-21, debt increased significantly due to the drop in revenues, which resulted from the contraction of the economy,...