Taking advantage of a funding announcement for a company in Saint-Hyacinthe, in the Montérégie region, on Friday, Premier François Legault vigorously defended his interventionist approach, which has been criticized from all sides, including by his successor candidate Christine Fréchette, who has said she wants to be less interventionist.
With two weeks left in his term as premier, Legault wanted to send “a little message” to all those who criticize his approach. “I want to say a few words about government aid, because I hear all sorts of things about government aid—like how it would be so smart and wise if the government stopped helping businesses, and we could put that money toward hospitals instead. Well, I stand by my position. When we help a Quebec business, it creates wealth, and that wealth allows us to invest in hospitals. That’s what people need to understand.”
At the end of his speech, however, he defended himself during the press conference against accusations that he was targeting Christine Fréchette in particular when asked specifically about her: “I won’t get involved in our internal debate!”
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His message, he clarified, “is directed at everyone, because—whether it’s journalists, the opposition, or anyone else—there are far too many people right now who are oversimplifying things by saying that instead of giving money to businesses, we should put it toward healthcare. It doesn’t work that way.”
He took the opportunity to praise previous premiers who provided the necessary tools to enable action. “We need the government. That’s why Jean Lesage, Jacques Parizeau, and Bernard Landry created the Caisse des Dépôts and Investissement Québec. So, let’s be careful before jumping to conclusions.”
Both in his speech and during the press conference, François Legault noted that when he took office, the wealth gap between Quebec and the rest of Canada stood at 20 per cent, and that his government had narrowed it to 14 per cent. This, he said, is a major part of the legacy he is leaving to Quebecers. “It’s probably one of my greatest sources of pride—to have managed, in seven years, to outpace the economic growth of Ontario and the rest of Canada, something we hadn’t seen in a very long time.”
To achieve this result, you have to take risks, he argued, making no secret of his irritation at the prominence the Northvolt issue has taken in the public sphere. “There will be failures, but that shouldn’t stop us from acting. We have to be able to look at the overall picture; we have to be ambitious. (…) Yes, it’s getting a little on my nerves to see that some people talk about nothing but Northvolt. We’ve helped 25,000 businesses, and all anyone talks about are a few failures. It’s a bit of a letdown.”
The premier was received by Jefo, a company that manufactures animal feed supplements, to announce that Quebec will provide it with a $120 million loan to support a total investment of over $250 million, aimed in particular at adding production lines, building a new plant, and creating a poultry research centre.
During his speech, Legault returned four times to the benefits of government assistance, citing the example of the support provided to Jefo. “When I also see (…) that Americans want to give grants to Jefo, that Jefo is being sold to the United States, that the headquarters is being moved—well, let’s stop being naive. Now more than ever, we need to help our Quebec businesses in a smart way.”
The $120 million offered by Quebec in the form of a loan includes a small portion—$10 million—that the company will not have to repay if it creates the 150 jobs it promises. “There’s a small portion of the loan that becomes forgivable if you deliver the jobs. So how do you pay for that subsidy? Well, jobs mean people paying taxes, and that increases government revenue,” the premier emphasized to illustrate what he meant by smart aid.
Jefo, a family-owned business established in 1982, exports 75 per cent of its production to 80 countries and is not dependent on the United States, which imports only 12 per cent of that production.
–This report by La Presse Canadienne was translated by CityNews
