The announcement of the installation of Northvolt in Montérégie is indeed historic. This is the largest private investment in the history of Quebec and we should be happy about it. Especially since the installation of this company considerably strengthens the development of this industry in Quebec, at a time when several states would like to attract this type of investment, notably the very aggressive Americans.
But the risk we take as a taxpayer is also enormous. We write big checks, both provincially and federally, and the weight of this check is not unrelated to the fact that these companies decide to choose to set up here.
Still, the gamble could and will hopefully pay off in the medium and long term. Governments have an obligation to achieve results in this sense: not only are we investing a lot of money, but we will also be investing a lot of energy resources in this project, thus limiting our room for maneuver with other potential projects.
From a political communication point of view, caution will also be necessary. We recently learned that nearly 2,000 Quebec SMEs are affected by bankruptcy, because they are unable to meet the repayment of the various loans granted during the pandemic, particularly by the government.
We should not have the impression that the government is insensitive and indifferent to the fate of thousands of entrepreneurs in financial difficulty because of government intransigence regarding reimbursements while we roll out the red carpet for foreign companies with billions of dollars.
Quebec’s entrepreneurial fabric is closely linked to who we are, a people of builders. Quebec SMEs are nothing less than the backbone of our economy. We must, at the same time as encouraging foreign private investment, pay particular attention to our small and medium-sized businesses which do not have the luxury of making States compete with each other on who will offer the most ‘help. Our Quebec SMEs need to be supported in innovation, robotization, productivity, human resources, exports and growth. Their success should obsess us as much as the electric battery industry in Quebec.