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Quebec Finance Minister Carlos Leitao's third consecutive balanced budget has given Premier Philippe Couillard government a boost in the polls. But Quebecers want more money invested in education and health. Jacques Boissinot / THE CANADIAN PRESS

Quebecs Liberal government isenjoyinga post-budget honeymoon but most voters say the provincestill isnt doing enough to fund schoolsand hospitals.

And amajority of Quebecers 62 per cent thinkthe tax cuts in the March 28 budget were a politically motivated effort to woovoters in advance of the next election, due in October 2018.

Those are some of the conclusions of a poll conducted afterthe budget for the Montreal Gazette and Postmedia. Mainstreet Research surveyed 2,520 respondents on March 29 and 30.

The Quebec Liberals seem to be receiving a post-budget bump, theyre getting a nice honeymoon bump, but people are actually quite divided on thebudget, said Mainstreet executive vice-president David Valentin.

I expected stronger numbers for the budget given that there weretax cuts but a lot of people are still not convinced. The number of people who are not sure what the actual impact is going to be for themselves and/or their family is quite high.

After years of reining in spending, Finance Minister Carlos Leito loosened the purse strings slightly in a budget that included modest taxcuts and more cash for education and health care.

In the poll, 39per cent of respondentssaid they would vote forPremier Philippe Couillards government,five percentage points more than said they would do so in a surveytwo weeks earlier.

Support for theParti Qubcois dropped five points to 26 per cent, and the Coalition Avenir Qubec fell four percentage points to 23 per cent. Buoyed by the arrival of star candidate Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois, Qubec solidaire saw support jump four points to 12 per cent.

Among francophones, who make up the majority of voters in most ridings, thePQ was first with 31 per cent, followed by the Liberals (30 per cent), the CAQ (26 per cent) and QS (14 per cent).

Quebecers seemed uncertainabout the budget.

When asked whether they approveor disapprove, Quebecerswere almost evenly split 30 per cent gave it a thumbs-up, 29 per cent a thumbs-down and another 29 per cent werent sure. Twelve per cent said they hadnt paid attention.

Non-francophones were the most likely to approve of the budget (43 per cent).

Respondentswere also undecided about whether the budget is in Quebecs long-term interest.

Thirty-six per cent of those polled said it was, 30 per cent said it wasnt and the remaining 34 per cent were notsure.

Valentin said the fact that support for Couillards governmentwent up, despite ambivalence about the budget, indicates that the Liberals have been able to convey the message that they are good economic managers.

Peoplemay not know the specifics (about the budget) but they do know they likethe general direction.

It was the governments third consecutive balanced budget.

In at least two areas, however, Quebecers think the government should be doing more.

Most respondentssaid the governmentis not adequately funding health care (53 per cent) and education (56 per cent).

On voting intentions, the poll suggests the Liberals lead comfortably in their traditional bastion of greater Montreal regionand are statistically tiedwith the PQ in the rest of Quebec.

In Quebec City,the CAQ leads (36 per cent), with the Liberals second at 28 per cent.

Valentin noted that theLiberals and Qubec solidaire each have fresh selling points.

The arrival of former student leader Nadeau-Dubois Qubec Solidaires candidate in a by-election in Gouin for which a date has not been set has reinvigorated the party, he noted.

And the Liberals may be able toleverage the budgeteven more and do a persuasive sales job to all those people who are undecided about what this budget means right now.

The polls margin of error is plus or minus 1.95 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.

ariga@postmedia.com

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More here:
Montreal Gazette poll: Tax-cut budget gives Quebec Liberals a boost - Montreal Gazette