Business community sighs relief as PQ budget sidelines platform

MONTREAL – The business community is expressing relief that the Parti Quebecois government shelved many of its election promises to produce the provincial budget.

Assessments prepared by financial institutions after yesterday’s budget praise the new PQ government for dialing down its left-leaning program to tackle pressing economic concerns.

Investor updates are welcoming the government’s plan to eliminate the deficit in 2013-14, reduce the debt, cut program spending and introduce tax increases for wealthier income earners.

But observers are warning the PQ’s surprisingly centrist budget could come with a political price: the potential alienation of its base.

The party had spent much of the campaign courting voters of the left-wing Quebec solidaire party — and that party is now saying voters have been betrayed by the PQ.