Quebec is once again looking north for growth and investment.
Finance Minister Carlos Leitao, keeping a campaign pledge, said the province’s newly elected Liberal Party government will revive the so-called Plan Nord, a strategy to tap mining and energy resources north of the 49th parallel that former Premier Pauline Marois halted after gaining power in 2012.
Canada’s second most populous province will also create a C$1 billion ($914 million) fund to buy equity stakes in mining and oil and gas companies, many of which operate in the province’s remotest regions, Leitao said yesterday in Quebec City as he unveiled his budget for the fiscal year that began in April.
“We intend to take full advantage of our natural resource endowment,” Leitao told reporters. “Many other jurisdictions in North America and elsewhere in the world would love to have the kind of natural resources we have.”
Led by Philippe Couillard, the Liberals swept to power April 7 thanks in part to a pledge to create 250,000 jobs in Quebec over five years. Former Liberal Premier Jean Charest unveiled the Plan Nord in 2011, promising C$80 billion of government and company investment by 2036 in an area twice the size of France.
Aboriginal Training
About C$2 billion will be allocated to the new Northern Plan Fund by 2035, an amount that includes C$63 million for 2014-15, Leitao said yesterday. The fund will finance work on roads in the Plan Nord territory, with C$100 million set aside to train aboriginal Canadians.
Leitao defended his government’s decision to invest in Plan Nord amid a global commodities slump, saying the province must prepare for the next rebound in prices.
“The world still needs aluminum, iron ore and other natural resources,” Leitao said. “It’s totally appropriate to restart” the plan.
Quebec’s new C$1 billion natural resources fund — called Capital Mines Hydrocarbures — will seek to acquire equity stakes in mining and oil and gas companies so “Quebec society can obtain, as a shareholder, a direct share in the profits,” Leitao said, adding legislation creating the fund will be introduced in the fall.
Rail Investments
The province, Canada’s largest by area, will set aside as much as C$20 million to pay for a feasibility study on a new rail line between the port town of Sept-Iles and the Labrador Trough region, Leitao said. Canadian National Railway Co. (CNR), the government’s partner in the venture, suspended preliminary work on the C$5 billion line last year amid delays in mining projects.
For the rest of this article, click here: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-06-05/quebec-government-revives-northern-plan-to-boost-revenue.html