“Great chore” by François Legault | Requalified unemployed for Hydro, Amazon in the sights

(Quebec) There is a truce, but it should not be concluded that Donald Trump will retreat on his trade war, warns Prime Minister François Legault. He wants to launch an economic “large chore”, the “first project” of which recommends the Quebec purchase and even the weaning of Amazon. To workers in the manufacturing sector who will lose their jobs, he proposes to reclaim himself in order to participate in the construction of new hydro-Québec dams.
On Monday, the American president granted a 30 -day stay in Canada against a commitment from Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to strengthen security on the border and the fight against fentanyl. He postponed to March 4 the entry into force of his 25 % customs tariffs on Canadian products (10 % on oil and gas).
“The threat still places above our heads like a sword of Damocles,” said François Legault in a solemn speech in the chamber on Tuesday. “Obviously, what everyone wants is that Mr. Trump is backing up. But when we see Trump going, I think we cannot trust it and think that that’s what will happen. »»
Consequently, “we have a duty to undertake a big one, a long project to make our economy less dependent in the United States. »»
François Legault used an exceptional parliamentary procedure, the “ministerial declaration”, to appeal to contribute to this “collective effort”.
All of Quebec will have to get there. Today, I reach out to all the deputies who sit here in the National Assembly. I reach out to our entrepreneurs, our workers, our researchers, to all Quebecers. We are going to need everyone in this great chore. We are open to all ideas, all suggestions, the world, our world is changing. I don’t have all the answers, but what I know is that we have to get up with the sleeves. We have to fight, we have to do it together.
François Legault, Prime Minister of Quebec
“Uncertainty” created by Mr. Trump with his “brutal attack”, “it’s a poison for the economy,” he insisted. And he already affects Quebec. “Uncertainty makes all companies that have investment projects. It is a bit like the economy of Canada and Quebec was on a break. »»
Building dams
To “redeploy” Quebec’s economy, “it will take a huge collective effort with great determination, a lot of endurance first. Without dramatizing the situation, we should not have illusions “, because” if the Trump administration is stakehold, what awaits us in the coming months, thousands of workers are at risk of losing their jobs. More than 100,000, according to his forecast.
During the temporary period, what is said is that we are going to ask employees for example from the manufacturing sector who risk losing their jobs, to requalify to go to work on the construction of new dams or enhancement of the dams .
François Legault, Prime Minister of Quebec
Recall that Hydro-Québec says that you need 35,000 construction workers on average per year to carry out its action plan by 2035. The Crown Company wants to double its production capacity.
François Legault puts a lot on this “immense project”: the operation will not create one, but two “economic booms”. First at the time of the construction of new installations “in the coming months and the coming years”, then when “companies will develop here in Quebec, with an incomparable competitive advantage of renewable energy at low cost”.
But in the shorter term, the “first project” is to increase the purchase of products from here. “Buying Quebecers is what is most effective in protecting our jobs. This is true for the government, it is true for companies. This is true for consumers, ”he argued.
The chore will also aim to “correct” Quebec’s “weaknesses”: “our productivity, surregulation, bureaucracy, taxation”, but “above all too much dependence on the American market”, listed the Prime Minister.
Amazon in the sights
Photo Christinne Muschi, Archives La Presse Canada
Quebec has already granted tens of millions of dollars in public contracts to Amazon.
François Legault also revealed Tuesday that Quebec is studying how to wean the services of the Amazon giant, to whom he granted tens of millions of dollars in public contracts, in the wake of the closure of his warehouses in the province.
The Prime Minister said that he had entrusted the president of the Treasury Board, Sonia Lebel, the mandate to “review the government’s contracts” with the American company.
“Obviously, you have to be careful not to have a [effet] Boomerang where Amazon wins because we break a contract. We will first look for the next contracts, we will try to avoid Amazon. Then we are looking at if we can break, indeed, the contracts with Amazon, “he explained.
Photo Josie Desmarais, the press
The president of the Treasury Board, Sonia Lebel
Before journalists, Sonia Lebel, however, tempered expectations. His mandate, “is to examine our behavior, of the government, facing this business”. “But you know, the first responsibility of the government is not to take revenge on a business, but to see in the best interest of Quebecers,” she said.
Since 2011, $ 88.8 million in IT services have been bought by Quebec in Amazon for data hosting by its Amazon Web Services subsidiary (AWS). Its share of this market is around 4 %, while Microsoft largely dominates at 30 %.
The CSN, which sparked a boycott campaign of the online commerce giant on Tuesday, now estimates that 4,500 workers have been affected by the sudden closure of the seven company warehouses in Quebec.
The opposition parties require more clarity
Photo Jacques Boissinot, the Canadian press
The acting leader of the Quebec Liberal Party, Marc Tanguay
As important as the debate, so united can we be at this national assembly, anyway, things must be said. This government is in its seventh year. […] And, today, Quebec is not where it should have been, would not have been of these years, obviously, of the Coalition Avenir Québec.
The interim leader of the Quebec Liberal Party, Marc Tanguay
Photo Jacques Boissinot, the Canadian press
The Co-Porte-Parole de Québec Solidaire, Ruba Ghazal
It is time now to seize this crisis, this opportunity, and to transform our economy. Let’s find markets, new markets for products that are manufactured here in Quebec. Let’s be the best market for our products, and the example must come from above from the Quebec government itself.
The parliamentary head of Quebec Solidaire, Ruba Ghazal
Photo Jacques Boissinot, the Canadian press
The chief of the Parti Québécois, Paul St-Pierre Plamondon
I have heard very few concrete measures, very few specific measures and many common places. […] What we want from the government in delicate and complex situations is not that he accentuates fear and concern or that he makes media staging as we have known in time of pandemic.
The chief of the Parti Québécois, Paul St-Pierre Plamondon