If Quebec remains “underproductive”, it is because Quebecers do not have the “reflex for innovation”, according to the Minister of the Economy Pierre Fitzgibbon, who believes that a change in mentality is necessary.
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“On the economic side, we are still underproductive,” said Mr. Fitzgibbon on Thursday before the Lévis Chamber of Commerce.
“My boss is obsessed with the wealth gap with Ontario”, he is right […], he added immediately. “[Cet écart] was at 16% when we came to power, then it went to 13% […]but there is still a lot to do to get where we want to be.”
According to the minister, productivity problems in Quebec can be explained, among other things, by “underinvestment in innovation,” a problem that has its roots in the very consciousness of citizens.
“We don’t have the reflex for innovation in Quebec,” lamented Pierre Fitzgibbon. “There are still a lot of people who think that innovation is to serve bad companies that make money, and [que] it takes away from social values.”
“But this is not the case,” he preached. Today, what we must instill in Quebec is the culture of innovation, which did not exist. Perhaps because we were Judeo-Christian, I don’t know what the reasons are, but it must be instilled. We must promote “start-ups”, and we must promote entrepreneurship.”
We need to talk about nuclear power
The theme of energy transition also emerged during the discussions. Here too, Mr. Fitzgibbon argued that there remains “a lot of work to do” to make Quebecers understand what this transition involves.
Concerning nuclear power, for example, the minister noted that Quebecers are not open to it today “for excellent reasons”. In this regard, he recalled that the closure of Gentilly-2 took place in a context where Quebec was swimming in electricity surpluses, adding that he would have made the same decision if he had been in office at this time. that moment.
“But we never had a speech afterwards on: is nuclear power better than it was,” he said. So what I’m saying is that I doubt that in a few years we will launch a nuclear program. I don’t think that’s going to happen, because there’s a lot of work to do.”
“But when we look at those who think that we are going to decarbonize the planet without nuclear power, it’s science fiction,” added Mr. Fitzgibbon, insisting on the fact that “we must have this debate now.” but by assuring a second time that the government does not intend to announce a nuclear project “soon”.
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