Canadian dollar stronger following Quebec Liberal win

The business community is breathing a sigh of relief in reaction to the news that the Quebec Liberals have been swept back into power, with the loonie moving to its highest level in two months and cautious optimism on the stock market...

The Canadian dollar gained almost half a percentage point to trade above the 91.50 cents US level Tuesday morning — its highest level since the middle of February...

One of the biggest challenges the new government has to face will be to tackle the province's $2.5-billion budget deficit and a debt load projected to reach $198.4 billion by 2018-19. That's more than half of the province's entire GDP, which is historically a very dangerous level from which to rebound.

The Liberals have pledged to create 250,000 jobs during the next five years, while cutting $1.3 billion in spending. Half of any eventual surplus will be directed to income tax cuts and half to paying down Quebec's long-term debt, Couillard said on the campaign trail...

On the stock market, the impact of the election is likely to be a non-event, but there could be individual sectors poised to do well...

The Liberals also pledged to stimulate investment in mining, energy and forestry by relaunching Plan Nord, something that could be a boon for those sectors.

The Liberal win "returns some political stability back to Quebec, which is a clear positive for the flagging economy,"...

This has been excerpted from 8 April 2014 article by CBC News and is available in its entirety at http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/canadian-dollar-stronger-following-quebec-liberal-win-1.2602123.