Quebec Mining

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MONTREAL – The mining industry finds itself at the centre of an election campaign debate over the royalty regime now in place in Quebec. It’s a debate that’s increasingly polarized.
 
On one side are those who see the industry as a future generator of jobs and economic growth, a vital part of the Liberal government’s Plan Nord strategy. On the other are those who view it as a dark force that exploits the environment and doesn’t pay its fair share to the public treasury.
 
The mining business is volatile at the best of times. The price of metals can fluctuate wildly with the economic cycle, leading companies to defer or cancel even the most promising projects.
 
A report this week from consulting firm Ernst & Young noted that in the first half of the year the number of investment transactions announced in Canada fell by 26 per cent, representing a 41 per cent drop in investment value.

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The Northern Miner, first published in 1915, during the Cobalt Silver Rush, is considered Canada’s leading authority on the mining industry.

In the world of mine development and its outsized scales of size, time and money, there’s always this thought in the back of the mind while listening to any promoter’s pitch: “Well, it may never happen.”

This was the case with Quebec Premier Jean Charest’s $80-billion, multi-decade pro-mining Plan Nord northern development program, which went way beyond the mandate of a parliamentary government and its typical four- to five-year lifespan.

On the other hand, the Quebec government’s track record in realizing the vast James Bay hydro-power development over several decades and changes in governing party shows there can be the will to get big things done in Quebec’s Far North, regardless of who holds the reins in Quebec’s National Assembly.

However, the increasing likelihood that the provincial government in Quebec will change in September has cast new doubt on whether the premier’s ambitious plan will ever be made real.

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http://in.reuters.com/

Quebec opposition says foreign miners not paying enough

* Government has big plans to develop resource-rich North

Aug 19 (Reuters) – Quebec’s two main opposition parties, seeking to replace the struggling Liberal government in a Sept 4 election, said on Sunday that foreign mining firms should pay more for the right to operate in the resource-rich Canadian province.

Polls show the separatist Parti Quebecois is well ahead of Premier Jean Charest’s Liberals, who are almost neck-and-neck with the right-leaning Coalition for the Future of Quebec (CAQ).

The government last year launched a C$80 billion ($81 billion) plan to develop Quebec’s frozen northern regions, which it says has big deposits of nickel, cobalt, platinum group metals, zinc, iron ore, gold, lithium, vanadium and rare-earth metals.

Parti Quebecois leader Pauline Marois, appearing in a televised debate with Charest and CAQ leader Francois Legault, said if she won the election she would raise royalty rates to stop natural resources being sold off at a discount. “We will really create wealth and share it for all the population, not only for a few mining firms,” she said.

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The Globe and Mail is Canada’s national newspaper with the second largest broadsheet circulation in the country. It has enormous influence on Canada’s political and business elite.

VAL D’OR, QUEBEC – It’s the topic on which he is most proactive, promising it will play a key role in fulfilling the main plank in his platform: creating 250,000 jobs by 2017 if he forms the next government.

The Plan Nord is more than the Quebec Liberal Leader’s priority for a fourth mandate. The ambitious, 25-year, $80-billion economic program to develop natural resources in the province’s north is designed to be his main legacy. Launched during his third term in office, the Plan Nord is supposed to be to Mr. Charest what the massive James Bay hydro-electric project was to his predecessor, Robert Bourassa, in the 1970s.

Not surprisingly, most of Mr. Charest’s daily announcements are somehow linked to the Plan Nord and job creation, such as a promise to introduce Plan Nord RRSPs and to offer more long-distance training in fields such as mining and forestry. Most of his industrial visits – he does one a day – are linked to his dream of northern riches.

Still, there is no guarantee Mr. Charest will still be in power after the Sept. 4 election. Every day of the campaign, he has to bat away questions about other issues, from student protests to allegations of widespread corruption to the threat of a third referendum on sovereignty.

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http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/

MONTREAL – Jean Charest’s Liberals predict Quebec will make the historic transformation into a “have” province over the next quarter-century thanks to an ambitious northern-development plan.

Quebec’s natural resources minister says the project — known as “Plan Nord” — will enable the province to wean itself off decades of federal equalization transfers, tackle its heavy debt, and bankroll its costly social programs.

Clement Gignac’s prediction would see the province pump cash into the federation for the first time since the modern equalization program was established in the 1950s. Amid campaign clashes over tuition fees, corruption allegations and Quebec independence, Plan Nord is a sleeper issue heading into the Sept. 4 election.

Gignac says the initiative, which includes mining, energy and tourism projects, has the potential to become a game-changer for Quebec, much like the Hibernia oil project was for reversing the once-grim economic fortunes in Newfoundland and Labrador.

“It will increase our financial autonomy… and it will be a win-win for everybody,” Gignac told The Canadian Press in an interview.

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http://www.ctvnews.ca/

MONTREAL — The Parti Quebecois says it will give Jean Charest’s signature northern-development plan a makeover if it wins the Sept. 4 election, altering a project the Liberal premier hails as Quebec’s ticket to prosperity.
 
The party’s mining critic said a PQ government would “redo” the multibillion-dollar Plan Nord. It argues the initiative offers up Quebec’s natural resources for next to nothing.
 
Martine Ouellet said the PQ is pledging to raise royalties; ensure more Quebec resources are processed in the province; and spend less public money to help private companies — unless Quebecers get something in return.
 
“The Parti Quebecois is okay with developing northern mines, but certainly not in the same way as the plan I call ‘The Plan Marketing du Nord,’ ” Ouellet said in an interview. “We can’t continue like this, we’re letting our minerals go for free.”
 
Ouellet also said the PQ would launch environmental reviews before each project and boost returns for Quebecers by processing more of the resources in the province.

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QUEBEC CITY – Quebecers will have the chance to invest in the Plan Nord under a Liberal government, and receive a tax break if they do. Premier Jean Charest promised a new savings fund to which Quebecers can contribute a maximum of $5,000 a year and receive a tax credit of 10 per cent, to a limit of $500.
 
The fund, offered by workers’ venture capital firms like the Quebec Federation of Labour Solidarity Fund and Capital regional et coopérative Desjardins, would invest in companies involved in Plan Nord, the Liberal project to exploit resources in Quebec’s North.
 
These would include mining, energy and forestry firms, and companies that provide services and supplies for them. This investment would be eligible for a retirement savings plan (RRSP) or a tax-free savings account (TFSA).
 
This plan is part of Charest’s economic development platform, which has been the main focus of his campaign. He said $30 billion in projects have been announced in Plan Nord. The Liberals are aiming for $80 billion in total investments over 25 years, with $5.5 billion predicted to return to the provincial purse.

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