Budget will resonate in Quebec election campaign

The federal budget is expected to have a big impact in the last stretch of Quebec's provincial election campaign.

Liberal Leader Jean Charest is hoping the budget's main offering of fiscal imbalance measures will buy him political capital in the last week of his campaign for re-election as polls suggest his party is in a three-way tie with the Action Dmocratique du Qubec and Parti Qubcois.

Charest has long boasted about the relationship he's cultivated with Ottawa, and promised the budget will be one that "carries our signature, the Liberals," as he said to supporters at a Sunday rally in Vachon.

Ottawa is expected to be generous towards Quebec, with increased transfer payments for health, education and social services, but it's not meant to be seen as an endorsement for the Liberal government.

"What the budget will say is how we keep our promises to Canadians," said Michael Fortier, Conservative senator and federal public works minister.

PQ Leader Andr Boisclair remains skeptical about Charest's claims on the fiscal imbalance, and warned Quebecers about how the Liberal leader will spin the budget.

"This money is not a present from Mr. Harper to Mr. Charest. This money belongs to Quebecers," he said.

"I think we can fairly anticipate a monetary agreement [with Ottawa]. But, will we have a fiscal agreement?" he said to CBC.

Mario Dumont of the ADQsaid Charest will try to spin the budget as evidence he's Quebec's greatest champion in Ottawa, when all the credit should go to the federal Conservatives.

"Stephen Harper, he respects his promises," Dumont said.

'It depends on your value judgments': economist

Qubec Solidaire Leader Franoise David said it's unrealistic to expect one budget to resolve the fiscal imbalance, but shesaid any spending increases bode well for the province.

Some Quebec economists say even if Ottawa is generous in this budget, it won't resolve the fiscal imbalance.

"There are some people who believe that redistribution across provinces is unfair, or unjust, and there are other people who believe the opposite.

"Now, who is right, who is wrong can't be said. It depends on your value judgments," said Jean-Yves Duclos, an economist at Laval University.

The election is on March 26.