Premier François Legault unveiled a summary of his government’s economic strategy with great fanfare on Monday at the Beauharnois hydroelectric plant, less than a year before the next election campaign.
The Legault government will rely on Hydro-Québec’s massive investment plan, on reducing bureaucracy to make the “state more efficient” and on economic interventionism to propel “Quebec’s economic champions”.
The main points of the 54-page document summarize measures and strategies that have already been put forward by the government previously.
Legault indicated that his economic vision was a response to the uncertain global context due to the trade policies of the Trump administration, in the introductory note to the document on his economic vision.
“The world has changed,” he said. “Unfortunately, and I hope I’m wrong, but unfortunately, I think we’re not going to come back to the situation we knew six or 12 months ago. So we have to act and we have to adjust. And it’s still… I dare say it, serious what’s happening right now. If we don’t make the right choices in the coming years, Quebec could end up with a lower standard of living.”
Legault also presented the increase in military spending and the development of critical minerals as strategic opportunities for Quebec.
He was accompanied by Minister of Economy and Energy, Christine Fréchette, and the CEO of Hydro-Québec, Claudine Bouchard.
–This report by La Presse Canadienne was translated by CityNews
