Quebec Finance Minister Eric Girard is scheduled to table the province's fiscal 2021-22 budget Thursday.
Girard told reporters Tuesday the budget will focus on restarting Quebec's economy, health-care network and education system following the upheaval to the province's finances caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
He warned it will be a challenge to return to the era of consecutive balanced budgets that existed before the health crisis set in last year.
A November economic update projected a record $15-billion deficit for this fiscal year, the province's first deficit since 2014.
That update also forecasted an $8.3-billion deficit in fiscal 2021-22 and $7 billion the following year.
Girard's fiscal 2020-21 budget, tabled in March 2020, was balanced and included spending increases intended to help the province weather the COVID-19 pandemic, then in its early days.
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