Seeing it as a way to enrich Quebecers, the Legault government has exploded aid to businesses since 2018. But are the results there? The Journal presents to you the most complete report ever produced on this crucial issue as Quebec heads towards a record deficit.
Quebec says it is ready to put money back into Lion Électrique and Northvolt, but Quebecers do not agree. More than half of them believe that the government should simply stop financially supporting companies that are on life support, according to a new Léger survey.
“People are not very supportive, that’s clear,” notes the executive vice-president at Léger Marketing, Sébastien Dallaire, observing the data from the survey.
This is of course an understatement, since 52% of survey respondents answered “no” to the question of whether the government should continue to financially support Lion and Northvolt despite their difficulties.
The opposite option received only 23% of support, and 26% of respondents preferred not to comment.
“It’s more than two for one in favor of no,” underlines Mr. Dallaire.
In total, the Quebec government has granted more than $160 million in financial assistance to Lion Électrique, and $710 million to Northvolt. In both cases, the door is always open for possible additional aid if certain conditions are met.
Lion less unpopular than Northvolt
The survey also shows that neither Lion Électrique nor Northvolt are popular with the population.
Only 30% of respondents believe the government should support Lion, and this proportion drops to 22% for Northvolt. In total, more than one in three Quebecers (37%) think that the government should support neither of these companies.
Photo provided by NORTHVOLT
Some “66% of people are opposed to their support or do not know if Quebec should help them, so it is a minority who are in favor of government aid,” says the pollster.
It’s up to businesses to take risks
Furthermore, when asked very generally about government financing of businesses, 46% of Quebecers say that it is up to businesses rather than the State to take risks.
Conversely, 37% of respondents find it normal for the government to financially support companies in a “new sector of economic activity”, and 17% do not comment.
“The difference is smaller, but we see that there is generally a reluctance,” says Sébastien Dallaire.
Methodology
A web survey was conducted among 1,011 Quebecers aged 18 or over between December 6 and 9. It is not possible to calculate a margin of error on a sample taken from a panel, but for comparison, the maximum margin of error for this sample is ± 3.08%, and this is 19 times out of 20.
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