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2001

Sun 7/1/01 8:00 PM LANDRY QUESTIONED BY QUEBEC WOMEN A member of the youth committee of the Quebec women's federation is criticizing Premier Bernard Landry for getting one of his female members of the National Assembly to quit to make way for the election of Sports Minister Richard Legendre. montreal.cbc.ca/cgi-bin/templates/view.cgi?/news/2001/06/29/woman010629

Sat 5/26/01 8:29 AM Landry calls for airport control By: KEVIN DOUGHERTY The Gazette
Federal Transport Minister David Collenette was not all wrong in blaming Quebec's continuing sovereignty debate for the spiraling decline in passenger traffic at Montreal's airports, Premier Bernard Landry said yesterday.
"In a sense he is not completely wrong," Landry said, speaking to the association of local development centres from across the province.

Fri 5/25/01 6:59 AM Landry salutes Bowater By: KEVIN DOUGHERTY The Gazette
Bowater Inc., which is expected to close its $1.2-billion purchase of Montreal-based Alliance Forest Products Inc. by late June, was welcomed as a new corporate citizen of Quebec yesterday by Premier Bernard Landry.
At a ceremony to inaugurate a new paper machine, built for Alliance but soon to be rebranded with the Bowater name, Landry switched into English to welcome Arnold Nemirow, chairman, president and CEO of Bowater, a Greenville, S.C.-based pulp-and-paper producer with operations in the United States, Canada and South Korea.

Thu 5/24/01 8:00 PM LANDRY WANTS QUEBEC TO BE A COUNTRY BY 2005 Premier Bernard Landry says he wants Quebec to be sovereign within the next four years. montreal.cbc.ca/cgi-bin/templates/view.cgi?/news/2001/05/24/landry010524

Tuesday 24 April 2001 Landry tells of Bush's 'shoulder shake' By: KEVIN DOUGHERTY The Gazette After Bernard Landry campaigned for months for the right to speak to leaders attending the Summit of Americas, he did get to talk to U.S. President George W. Bush.
But when he got his chance during a summit cocktail reception, Landry froze. "I did not start discussing with him the Quebec national question," Landry confided to reporters yesterday, describing his brief conversation with the leader of the free world as "very superficial."

Thu 4/19/01 10:58 AM Huge as it gets Here we go again. Bernard Landry has no trouble sticking up for the rights of all people when he is quoted as saying of the Summit of the Americas, "It is not normal to launch such a huge project without involving in it, intellectually and in other ways, millions of persons that will have to live with the result."
Well, what about his government's own Bill 170 and the merger of municipalities on the island of Montreal?

Thu 4/19/01 10:58 AM Legault, Bantey showed civility Your "other side" political commentary columnist Josee Legault has been appointed special adviser to the Parti Quebecois (Gazette, April 11).
If only all our writers and activists could be as civilized as Ms. Legault. Surely even those who would disagree with her support of sovereignty for Quebec would have to admire and applaud her civilized ways, both in print and on the radio. They would also applaud The Gazette for having chosen her to succeed sovereignist columnist Ed Bantey. By including a point of view not shared by the majority of its readers, The Gazette shows its commitment to a free press.

Tue 4/17/01 7:00 PM LANDRY SPEECH HEIGHTENS TENSION WITH OTTAWA Quebec Premier Bernard Landry kept his promise Tuesday to use the upcoming Summit of the Americas in Quebec City to promote the sovereigntist cause.
cbc.ca/cgi-bin/view?/news/2001/04/17/landry_nation010417

Fri 3/23/01 8:00 PM MCGILL PROFESSOR WELCOMES LANDRY MOVE ON REPORT A political science professor at McGill University says Premier Bernard Landry might be on to something.
montreal.cbc.ca/cgi-bin/view?/news/2001/03/23/gagnon010323

Fri 3/23/01 9:31 AM Landry starts the machine
The speech delivered by Premier Landry in the National Assembly yesterday was disappointing but hardly surprising. Mr. Landry made it clear that, after several years of being stashed away in the garage, the separatist political machine is being hauled out, oiled up and set in motion. This is bad news for Quebecers looking for good government from their new premier.
Mr. Landry's inaugural address in the new session of the National Assembly was an opportunity for him to put a decisive stamp on his government. After the cautious attitude toward sovereignty adopted by his predecessor, Lucien Bouchard, Mr. Landry is anxious to crank up the separatist rhetoric. He used every opportunity to do so yesterday.

22/Mar/2001 Bernie and the bill By: BILL BROWNSTEIN
It's like a crapshoot: Quebec Premier Bernard Landry delivers his inaugural address for the second session of the legislature today, and it's anyone's guess what will pop out of his mouth. Just like what might have transpired if he hadn't been kept by the feds from addressing the Summit of the Americas in Quebec City next month.

Sat 3/17/01 8:01 AM Landry is looking like a jerk By: NORMAN WEBSTER Robert Bourassa got off a good line during debate over the Charlottetown Accord almost a decade ago. Speaking to an audience in Montreal, he summed up one opponent of the accord, a then-out-of-office Bernard Landry, as "un homme toujours brillant, parfois intelligent" (always brilliant, sometimes intelligent).
What we're seeing these days is Bernie's brilliant side. Intelligence has yet to make an appearance.

Tue 3/13/01 7:07 AM
Canada is worse than useless for Quebec: Landry By: KEVIN DOUGHERTY Belonging to Canada has been "harmful" to Quebec, Premier Bernard Landry said yesterday. In an interview on the Radio-Canada radio program Le Midi-15, host Jean Dussault asked Landry whether he is convinced that Canada is of no use to Quebec.

Mar 12 2001 3:34 PM EST LANDRY CALLS CANADA 'USELESS' Premier Bernard Landry says Canada has been useless and harmful to Quebec's economic growth over the years. ...For example, Landry says, Quebec would have been better off had Ottawa adopted free trade in 1911 when Wilfred Laurier was in power. But he says the province was forced to wait for Brian Mulroney. montreal.cbc.ca/cgi-bin/view?/news/2001/03/12/landry010312

Sat 3/10/01 8:01 AM Landry could be Trojan horse
By: JOSH FREED
Last fall, I complained that Quebec had vanished from the Canadian news as the rest of the country lost interest in our debates and became infatuated with Stockwell Day.
But I am pleased to say the news blackout was short-lived. See JOSH FREED

Sat 3/10/01 8:01 AM Walking and chewing
By: JOSEE LEGAULT
Premier Bernard Landry's new cabinet confirms that a government can, indeed, walk and chew gum. To quote Landry, it means his government "can pursue the goal of sovereignty and govern with vigour at the same time." After Lucien Bouchard's tenure, this will be a refreshing change. The emphasis Landry puts on the importance of the Regions Ministry and on what he calls his newfound enemy - poverty - tells part of the story.

March 9, 2001 Bernard Landry
The installation of Bernard Landry took place yesterday. The province of Quebec has a new leader and, perhaps more important to the country, the PQ has a new champion. What are the differences we are likely to see in the advocating of separatism from Mr. Landry? Early signs are not promising. It may be we will come to miss the more imposing charisma, that annoying and yet strangely dignified self-certitude that seemed to be Mr. Bouchard's hallmark. cbc.ca/news/national/rex/rex20010309.html

Fri 3/9/01 7:02 AM Landry (64) shows he's in charge Premier Bernard Landry was sounding like a broken record, promising once again to fight for sovereignty as he unveiled his cabinet yesterday. And as though to make sure he actually keeps his own promise, he appointed his chief rival to the No. 2 position in the party. Pauline Marois, 51, who stepped into the finance ministry and the highest elected office held by a woman in Quebec, now has become the younger, highly ambitious No. 2 to Mr. Landry's aging leader-clinging-to-power. It's like Mr. Landry decided to follow the hard-edged advice of keeping your friends close and your enemies closer. It was an expected appointment by Mr. Landry, who turns 64 today, in acknowledgement (read reward) of Ms. Marois's stepping aside as his chief rival for the leadership abruptly vacated in January by Lucien Bouchard.

Bernard Landry

Thu 3/8/01 7:00 PM LANDRY SWORN IN AS PREMIER OF QUEBEC Bernard Landry has been sworn in as premier of Quebec. Landry, who said becoming premier is a dream come true, was acclaimed leader of the Parti Québécois last Friday after his competition stepped down before a leadership convention could be held.
cbc.ca/

Tue 3/6/01 7:02 AM Short honeymoon for Landry
By: DON MACPHERSON The Gazette There was a wedding-night disappointment on Friday evening in a hotel in Saint-Hyacinthe beside Highway 20. Less than two hours after the beginning of Bernard Landry's honeymoon as Parti Quebecois leader, it was apparent that it was already starting to end.
The PQ had been eagerly anticipating the start of the Landry era, having convinced itself that he would somehow succeed where Lucien Bouchard had failed to will them to the promised sovereign land.

Tue 3/6/01 7:02 AM Spending on sovereignty Bernard Landry says that after he becomes premier this week he might use public funds to promote the idea of the Quebec "nation." That would be outrageous.
Perhaps aware that a recent poll suggested that 74 per cent of all Quebecers do not want taxpayers' money used to push sovereignty, Mr. Landry draws a phony distinction between promoting a sense of nation and promoting sovereignty.

Sun 3/4/01 8:32 AM Landry sways his party By: PHILIP AUTHIER The Gazette Premier-in-waiting Bernard Landry scored a major victory over language hard-liners yesterday when Parti Quebecois members backed his view that now is not the time to force immigrants to attend French-language CEGEPs as well as French elementary and high schools.
But the win came at a price. On Landry's first official day as leader, three senior party members who sit on his national executive voted with the hard-liners, and one riding president, Andre Reny of Mercier, walked out, saying he's quitting the PQ because it has lost its compass and members are being manipulated from the top.

Sat 3/3/01 8:32 AM Landry era begins By: JOSEE LEGAULT
The Parti Quebecois has a new leader and Quebecers are about to get a new premier - the third one in less than six years. Bernard Landry is a man who has never shied away from arduous tasks. But this time, his plate will be fuller than full. While working toward a third mandate for the PQ government, he'll be facing many challenges, along with the great expectations of both his party and Quebecers.
Now that the page has been turned on the Lucien Bouchard era, Landry will be free to show Quebecers just what kind of leader he can be. This week, on RDI's Maisonneuve a l'ecoute, he sent out an interesting signal about what his leadership style might be. While Bouchard took a hands-on approach to most files, to put it mildly, Landry intends to leave more initiative to his ministers - something that, by the way, was one of Rene Levesque's best qualities.

Sat 3/3/01 8:32 AM Landry's Frankenstein monster By: DON MACPHERSON
Poor Saskatchewan. What did it ever do to Bernard Landry to cause him to demean it throughout his coronation procession leading up to his installation as Parti Quebecois leader last night?
You would think the cradle of medicare might deserve a little respect from someone who still calls himself a social democrat.

Fri 3/2/01 8:00 PM DUMONT SLAMS LANDRY AND HIS METHODS Action Démocratique Leader Mario Dumont had harsh criticism for Bernard Landry as the finance minister prepares to assume the leadership of the Parti Québécois. montreal.cbc.ca/cgi-bin/view?/news/2001/03/02/dumont010302

February 2001

Tuesday, 27 February, 2001, 07:23 GMT
Top post for Quebec deputy premier

Bernard Landry apologised for flag comment
By Mike Fox of the BBC in Montreal
"Quebec is a nation, just like Sweden or Denmark or Scotland" quote Landry

Wed 2/28/01 7:02 AM LANDRY OFFENDED BY $1.5-BILLION PAYMENT The federal Industry minister finds it strange that Quebec's soon-to-be premier is not reacting positively to $1.5 billion in equalization payments. Bernard Landry calls the federal money ''degrading''. montreal.cbc.ca

Wed 2/28/01 7:02 AM Quebec to get windfall By: JOAN BRYDEN; KEVIN DOUGHERTY
Quebec will get the lion's share of an extra $1.8 billion in immediate support for poorer provinces, the federal government announced yesterday
The windfall is the result of a recalculation, based on the latest economic data, of equalization payments owed the seven poorest provinces for the fiscal years 1999-2000 and 2000-01. [Was not this our own money??]

Tue 2/27/01 7:32 AM Last rival gone, Landry vows renewed stress on sovereignty By: PHILIP AUTHIER The Gazette With his last potential opponent dropping out of the contest, Bernard Landry yesterday was poised to take over the leadership of the Parti Quebecois uncontested - and ready to put sovereignty back at centre stage. In remarks made just after former Green Party leader Jean Ouimet announced he did not have enough support to make a run at the job, Landry said he plans to focus more on sovereignty than did his predecessor, Lucien Bouchard.

Fri 2/23/01 7:02 AM Challenges for Bernard Landry By: GRETTA CHAMBERS The findings, as reported by Denis Lessard on the paper's front page, suggest they don't know: "Despite 25 years in active politics, Landry has not yet managed to establish a substantive political profile. Among those surveyed, the only recent statement anyone could remember was the unfortunate raising of the red rag. Voters of all political stripes hope he will surround himself with a team that is both younger and more open to new ideas. Pauline Marois and Louise Harel being the only cabinet ministers considered indispensable."
Le Journal de Montreal's Michel C. Auger said Landry's image was falling between the two stools on which he had perched: "While posing as a simple leadership candidate, he is already premier in the eyes of the electorate. He lost a lot of points by having to get Lucien Bouchardto come to his rescue, be it to sort out the Francois Legault affair, manage the ongoing Michaud saga or throw his weight behind the official-residence issue. The net result of candidate Landry's campaign until now is to have recharged sovereignists at the expense of alienating lots of other groups needed by the PQ to win an election."

Sun 2/18/01 8:33 AM Landry offers Quebecers a wild gamble By: NEIL CAMERON Freelance Leaders of the Parti Quebecois have by now made so many unbelievable assertions that they are losing the ability to arouse outrage or amusement. Only Jacques Parizeau retains a maestro's flair. Bernard Landry has been plugging away at it for years, but lacks the Parizeauvian flourish. Many of his zaniest declarations scarcely cause a ripple. But they do show his own personal stamp.
Most recently, he has assured an audience of supporters that it is wrong to think support for sovereignty has declined. This is true, after a fashion, although in a different sense than he implies. Decade after decade, there appears to be a permanent slice of the electorate, about a fifth, that remains attached to the dream of an independent Quebec state.

Sun 2/18/01 8:33 AM Landry has broken the spell
By: TOMMY SCHNURMACHER Bernard Landry is a voracious reader. Our deputy premier long ago devoured all the classics and we're told he continues to read several books a week. There is no doubt our future premier makes Evelyn Wood look like George Dubya.

8/Feb/2001 Health budget intact: Landry By: SEAN GORDON Amid opposition charges of political gamesmanship, Finance Minister Bernard Landry did his best to contradict reports that Quebec's health budget will face cuts, blaming rumours to that effect on the jockeying that occurs in the final stages of the budget cycle each year.
"When we approach budget credits time, if it's not one sector, it's another. There's effervescence because people want to protect their interests, which are legitimate," Landry said.

David Jones

6/Feb/2001 Ottawa Citizen Op-Ed Bernard Landry: A Quebec Hedgehog Although you may have seen this already, I was not aware that it had run on 6 February 2001 as it did not appear on the Internet. Hope that you find it of interest. David Jones www.geocities.com/davidnicholson_99/Jones.htm

5/Feb/2001 PQ doing English Canada a favour, Landry insists
Quebec independence is not an anti-Canadian project but simply one that will benefit Quebecers, Deputy Premier Bernard Landry said yesterday.
"I won't hide the truth," Landry said as he began a province-wide tour that will likely culminate in him becoming Quebec premier next month.

2/Feb/2001 so we're stuck with Bernard Landry. First of all, from a personal point of view, I feel that no matter who replaces Lucien Bouchard will be less popular. Well, okay, it's true that I'm not shedding any tears at Bouchard's departure, but Bernard Landry doesn't beat around the bush or play around with half-statements. Do you remember when he said that the death of elderly Quebecers would help the sovereignist cause? And then there's the incident on referendum night when he lashed out at an employee of the InterContinental Hotel, accusing her of voting 'No' because she was not a Francophone. By Jacques Chagnon, MNA for Westmount-St. Louis

3/Feb/2001 Landry resurrects Mosel Vitelic monster
By: Hold on to your wallets. Diamond Bernie Landry is revitalizing the Quebec economy again.
You may remember Landry as the star of such productions as The Great Kenworth Bailout, a masterpiece of economic revitalization that involved pouring $30-million worth of public funds into a big truck plant as its payroll shrank by two-thirds.

2/Feb/2001 PQ mellows
By: MICHEL DAVID Le Soleil
Everyone knows Bernard Landry is not afraid of making controversial comments, but there is one thing no Parti Quebecois leader before him would have dared do: he announced in The Gazette there is no need to strengthen the Charter of the French language
The Montreal purs et durs must have choked with rage while reading the interview he gave Philip Authier. Maybe if it had been in Le Devoir, but why The Gazette? Can you imagine the pope publishing a new encyclical in Pravda?

31/Jan/2001 Political hackery oozes from Patriote flick
By: DON MACPHERSON The Gazette Can it be long before some Quebec couturier presents a collection inspired by the Patriotes? The rebels of 1837 and 1838 in colonial Lower Canada are much in vogue these days. Bernard Landry, in announcing his candidacy for the Parti Quebecois leadership, mentioned proudly that Patriote Party leader Louis-Joseph Papineau had also represented Landry's riding of Vercheres.

31/Jan/2001 Landry's misguided plan By: PIERRE S. PETTIGREW
Bernard Landry has chosen to insult my colleague Stephane Dion rather than analyze his views regarding the European model. However, in the case of Quebec and its Canadian partners, the European model is not only impractical but even undesirable, both for sovereignists and for federalists.
By demanding a Quebec sovereignty based on the European Union model, Bernard Landry is in fact coming out against independence. Does he know this?

29/Jan/2001 LANDRY UNFLAPPABLE IN 22-MINUTES SPOOF As Parti Québécois organizers set rules for a leadership race that may end in acclamation, the only declared candidate was ambushed Saturday by someone after laughs, not his job.. cbc.ca/cgi-bin/view?/news/2001/01/27/landry_010127
Maite Ormaechea reports for CBC TV

[Download Players]

29/Jan/2001 LANDRY WARMING UP TO ANGLOPHONES Deputy Premier Bernard Landry says a massive crackdown on language is unnecessary. He told the Gazette newspaper he wants anglophones to feel at home in Quebec. montreal.cbc.ca/cgi-bin/view?/news/2001/01/27/anglos010127

Fri 1/26/01 King is dead, long live the king
By: GRETTA CHAMBERS Although Lucien Bouchard is still premier of Quebec, the man dubbed "Caliph Bouchard" by Le Soleil's Michel Vastel, has already been entirely eclipsed by his erstwhile "grand vizier," Bernard Landry, who is now running the show, including the orchestration of his own elevation to the top job.
Landry has made his beeline for the premiership using what Le Journal de Montreal headlined as "intrigue, behind-the-scene manipulation and strong-armed tactics" to be assured of an uncontested coronation.

23/Jan/2001 CANADIAN FLAG A PROVOCATION: LANDRY
The leading candidate in the race to succeed Lucien Bouchard as premier of Quebec, Bernard Landry, is taking off the gloves with the federal government. montreal.cbc.ca/cgi-bin/view?/news/2001/01/23/landrytalks010123

23/Jan/2001 LEGAULT THROWS SUPPORT BEHIND LANDRY
Quebec Education Minister François Legault has confirmed he is supporting Bernard Landry's bid to become leader of the Parti Québécois. montreal.cbc.ca/cgi-bin/view?/news/2001/01/23/landry010123

22/Jan/2001 BERNARD LANDRY WANTS TO BE PREMIER
Quebec Finance Minister Bernard Landry has made it official: he is the first candidate in the race to replace Premier Lucien Bouchard. montreal.cbc.ca/cgi-bin/view?/news/2001/01/21/landry20010121

Landry could unite PQ
By: JOSEE LEGAULT Freelance
In politics, messiahs tend to be greatly overrated. The events of the past week confirm the Parti Quebecois is no more in need of a saviour than is any other party. What it needs is a strong leader, one who has a clear vision and who believes politics remains a tool to change society for the better. Bernard Landry can be that leader.

16/Jan/2001 Early lead to Landry
By: SEAN GORDON
Though he's mum about his intentions, Finance Minister Bernard Landry [44.6% of PQ members] is the runaway choice among ordinary Quebecers and members of his own party to succeed Lucien Bouchard as premier, according to a new poll commissioned by The Gazette.
The survey also found more than two-thirds of Quebecers think the Parti Quebecois should take the opportunity presented by Bouchard's resignation to redefine the sovereignty option, which is supported by 37.6 per cent of respondents. Jacques Parizeau (19.3%), who has said he won't run, and Health Minister Pauline Marois (17.4%), Francois Legault and former leader Pierre Marc Johnson, who isn't expected to run

23/Dec/2000 MICHAUD AS PQ MEMBER WOULD NOT FARE WELL INTERNATIONALLY: LANDRY
Quebec Deputy Premier Bernard Landry is warning the Parti Québécois against endorsing controversial candidate Yves Michaud. montreal.cbc.ca/cgi-bin/view?/news/2000/12/22/landrymichaud001222

21/Dec/2000 Dishing out the pork
Finance Minister Bernard Landry has an unfortunate habit of stashing away any "extra" money that comes along. Last year, for instance, he left $841 million in federal government health and social service transfers in a bank account in Toronto, even though the province's health-care system was in desperate need of more money.
The province's health-care system is still in need of more money. Waiting lists for life-and-death operations still stretch for hundreds of patients, but this year, Mr. Landry is taking a different tack, pretending all the while that the government does not have any surplus money.

19/Dec/2000 A fight for the PQ's soul
By: DON MACPHERSON
All it takes to set a gasoline spill on fire is a single match. And sometimes, a single person acting in a combustible set of circumstances can create a crisis in a political party.
The late Gerald Godin was that person in the Parti Quebecois back in 1987, when his public call for the resignation of party leader Pierre Marc Johnson crystallized the discontent in the PQ over the leadership of Rene Levesque's successor. Johnson did resign abruptly, clearing the way for hard-liner Jacques Parizeau to take over the party.

19/Dec/2000 Let chips fall where they may
Acomputer-chip manufacturing plant would be a welcome addition to the Montreal region - but not at any price, especially when that price is borne by taxpayers.
So the Liberal federal government was right last week to turn down the outlandish request by Taiwanese chip-maker Mosel Vitelic Inc. for $1 billion in federal subsidies for its proposed plant on the West Island. The risk to taxpayers would have been unacceptable, especially at a time when the market for memory chips has entered a downturn. As federal Industry Minister Brian Tobin put it, "There's a limit to how much taxpayers ought to subsidize, even the development of new technology."

19/Dec/2000 Canada should give chipmaker a final no
By: JAY BRYAN
Heaven help us, it's now official. Mosel Vitelic, a small Taiwanese semiconductor maker, is going to take a deep breath and try once more to sucker the Canadian government into bankrolling the same microchip plant that this country turned down only last week as haphazardly planned and too costly for taxpayers. Mosel Vitelic should be told politely to forget it, for several reasons.

19/Dec/2000 Town out of pocket
By: Alison MacGregor
Ste. Anne de Bellevue will be left with about $1.5 million in infrastructure costs and lose out on more than $1 million in potential tax revenue with the expected cancellation of a $3-billion Taiwanese semiconductor plant project.
St. Anne de Bellevue general manager Jean-Paul Collinge said the municipality had invested about $1.5 million to install water mains at the site for the planned Mosel Vitelic Inc. chip plant.

16/Dec/2000 MOSEL VITELIC STALLED IN SETTING UP MONTREAL PLANT
Ottawa has turned down Mosel Vitelic's request for a subsidy to build a semiconductor plant in Montreal, according to a report by the French network of the CBC. montreal.cbc.ca/cgi-bin/view?/news/2000/12/15/mosel001215

14/Dec/2000 Surplus-cutting groups are accountable: Landry
By: KEVIN DOUGHERTY The Gazette
The eight non-profit organizations created by the Quebec government to hold $730 million in potential budgetary surpluses are accountable, Finance Minister Bernard Landry insisted yesterday. In his report on government operations Tuesday Auditor-General Guy Breton was critical of Landry for funnelling money into the non-profit organizations on the last day of his 1999-2000 financial year, reducing his surplus by $730 million.

Tuesday, 24/Oct/2000 Real estate industry worried of losing out because of subsidies ...Industry representatives say they stand to lose millions because of unfair government subsidies to e-commerce businesses. The provincial government is giving subsidies to Montreal's E-commerce Place, a collection of buildings on the west-end of the downtown.

A new study commissioned by the real estate industry found that commercial real estate values will drop by $330 million over the next five years montreal.cbc.ca/cgi-bin/view?/news/2000/10/24/ecommerce001024

13/Dec/2000 8:35 Quebec surplus was adrift by $393 million
By: KEVIN DOUGHERTY The Gazette According the calculations of Guy Breton, Quebec's auditor-general, the province had a surplus of $424.2 million in 1999-2000, not the $30-million surplus the finance department claims.
Breton said yesterday after he presented the second part of his 1999-2000 report on the activities of the Quebec government that he questions the transfer of $730 million to eight newly created non-profit organizations on March 31, 2000, the last day of its 1999-2000 financial year.

7/Dec/2000 E-plan lacks takers
By: MARY LAMEY The Gazette
Two of the partners in E-Commerce Place may be preparing to extricate themselves from the controversial $700-million real-estate development.
Canderel Ltd. and Axor Group are said to be ready to walk away from the project because of difficulties landing tenants willing to sign 20-year leases at the proposed downtown office development.

5/Dec/2000 Quebec headed for 'soft landing,' not full-blown recession: Landry
By: JAN RAVENSBERGEN The Gazette
The slowdown in U.S. economic growth will likely cause some air to leak from Quebec's high-flying economy, Quebec Finance Minister Bernard Landry said yesterday.
However, he added, indicators now point to "a soft landing" for the province's economy - as opposed to a full-blown recession.

Tuesday, September 26, 2000 No chips, please Before Montreal's proposed Mosel Vitelic semiconductor plant became the apple of the Quebec government's eye, it was dangled in front of British officials, who turned it down flat. They judged the company's plans to be sketchy and the amount of risk Mosel wanted the government to take unacceptable. The max UK would spend is about $100 million if it created only the 1,363 jobs promised by Mosel Vitelic. ... Quebec government proposes to give a package of approximately $2.2 billion worth of different forms of aid for a plant that will cost roughly $3 billion. by JAY BRYAN

Andy Riga

Saturday 23 September 2000 Mosel offered exemptions to Bill 101 Work at proposed chip plant can be done mostly in English, government tells Taiwan firm. by ANDY RIGA

Quebec Deputy Premier Bernard Landry, who this week threatened legislation if large chains don't voluntarily translate their names into French, has been the biggest booster of the plan to lure Mosel, arguing the plant is needed to bolster the province's economy.

Mosel stands to get about $2.1 billion in provincial and federal government subsidies for its plant, which would be built in Ste. Anne de Bellevue. Quebec's opposition Liberals have criticized the incentives as overly generous and industry experts have raised concerns about the riskiness of the plan, noting Mosel is a bit player in the very volatile semiconductor business. ...and many other Mosel employees, probably won't have to work in French, Paquette said.

The Mosel Vitelic Inc. Taiwanese Memory Chip Plant?

$3-billion factory 1,500 jobs and 6,500 indirect jobs

Wednesday, August 30, 2000 Perhaps the Chretien government in Ottawa recognizes the political fallout that can come from greasing the palms of companies like Taiwanese semi-conductor maker Mosel Vitelic Inc. Industry Minister John Manley has wisely refused to hand over the $500 million in federal support

JAY BRYAN

Saturday 26 August 2000 We haven't been told that the odds of failure are at least as high as those of success and the cost of such a failure would be enormous. ...a $500-million federal subsidy on top of the many hundreds of millions already offered by Quebec.

Quebec Finance Minister Bernard Landry indignantly demanded that Manley reconsider, citing the supposedly "fabulous" economic benefits

.. Mosel's project seems likely to be handicapped from birth. ..Many others, including Mosel Vitelic, make cheap memory chips that simply store data. These incorporate little proprietary technology and are sold mainly on the basis of price, not superior performance. During the computer industry's periodic downturns, such companies can suffer disastrous losses and be forced to close plants.

We also know that the "fabulous" spinoffs promised by Landry are mostly imaginary.

It is true that a big plant like the one sought for Montréal can employ about 1,500 people at good wages - for as long as it stays in business. But it is also true that such a plant gives no special boost to local electronics firms. They can already buy chips from a dozen other suppliers all over the world. "It doesn't really matter if the company is around the corner," said Lorne Trottier, of Matrox Ltd.,

Task Microelectronics in Dollard des Ormeaux, notes that they already turns down orders because he can't find enough skilled workers. He fears and resents the prospect of having workers who were trained at high cost by Task stolen away by a firm that's subsidized with his own tax dollars... companies could be severely hurt because all the skilled people would just be vacuumed up.

Trottier, who has decades of experience in the chip industry, says he thinks the government estimate of 6,000 outside jobs on top of the 1,500 in-plant jobs is "fiction."

On top of this, Mosel Vitelic is one of the smallest players in the toughest, least-profitable part of the chip business. Even if the plant can somehow turn a profit, it could well be in trouble during the next industry downturn, which many analysts expect to see within two to three years.

In all, says Lam, the idea of making Montreal a chip-manufacturing centre isn't out of the question, but the required investment would be many times the $3 billion now proposed. And if governments insist on jumping into bed with a chipmaker, "Mosel Vitelic, as a bride, is a pretty ugly one."

Friday 25 August 2000 ...In Quebec City yesterday, Deputy Premier Bernard Landry said"I find that it's always the best policy to be responsible with the taxpayers' funds, and I find that $500 million is probably too much for the government of Canada," Manley said yesterday. [but it was nit reported if said why]

"Quebec has already done its duty, and the duty of Quebec and Ottawa together must be the equivalent of what other countries are offering for that same project."

Germany, for example, is willing to provide nearly $1 billion in funding for the project, Landry told reporters on his way into the weekly Quebec cabinet meeting.

The Quebec government has promised Mosel Vitelic an estimated $350 million to $400 million in tax breaks over the next 10 years.

"It is a lot of money, but the fallout is fabulous," said Landry. "It is not only this factory, which will be one of the biggest industrial investments in the history of Quebec, but it is those who will gravitate around it," he said. "Those whOWN to use this (new) technology will have a tendency to gather around the mother factory." Landry also said Ottawa stands to gain more from the plant than Quebec City. "There is an absurd side to this - Ottawa will collect more than we will in income taxes and sales taxes. So that is one more reason for Ottawa to put its hand in its."

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SGF president Claude Blanchet explains the investment risks and gains chip plant. Pierre Laflamme of SGF listens in.

The federal and provincial governments in last-ditch effort to lure a $3-billion semiconductor plant to Montreal. Prime Minister Jean Chretien is even getting into the act. John Manley sain no.. as too rich a $500-million federal cash incentive. Jean Charest also has sharply criticized the province's plan ...The SGF said the estimated construction and plant startup cost is $2.1 billion U.S. , president .. CAI Corporate Affairs International, a consulting and lobbying firm that is backing the bid, said that the pant is "almost a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity."

Saturday 29 July 2000 ANDY RIGA ...work on at least 12 new chip plants has either begun or is planned in 2000, with other existing plants being refurbished or expanded - could lead to a slump in the memory market by 2002, experts said.

The last bust cycle, which ended in 1999, was blamed in part on the Asian economic crisis.

"The price of memory fell so much that memory suppliers felt like they were giving the world free memory," said an analyst. ... Several chip plants were closed or temporarily withdrawn from service.

Like its rivals, Mosel-Vitelic is thriving today, after losing $66 million U.S. in 1998. But the company's tiny size makes it more vulnerable in the industry. Its sales - $615 million U.S. last year - are a fraction that of competitors like Hyundai Electronics /LG Semicon, Samsung Electronics and Micron Technology. Mosel, Taiwan's fourth-largest memory-maker and the eighth-largest DRAM maker in the world, is planning new types of memory to help it better compete.

It now wants to get into flash memory (used in cell phones) and low-powered chips used in other small devices in which power consumption is crucial. It is also planning "system-on-a-chip" devices, which combine both memory and processing functions on the same chip, saving power and space.

"The success of (smaller) companies like Mosel Vitelic will be (based on their ability) to exploit market niches where they can better serve a certain customer base or a certain application," said Cantore of IDC.

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Wednesday 28 June 2000 Montreal is offering Mosel a hefty multimillion-dollar investment and a 10-year tax holiday. And the Societe Generale de Financement, the investment arm of the Quebec government, has offered to put up between 20 and 50 per cent of the investment. ... on the TransCanada Highway in Ste. Anne de Bellevue, giving a huge boost to the West Island's technology corridor, which is already anchored on the other end by the massive and fast-growing facilities of the Nortel Networks Corp. in St. Laurent. .."an extremely desirable location" and proximity to the U.S. market. "Those are very important (features) compared with the German sites in the east," John Manley said. "The quality of life is important to highly skilled workers who are well paid. Look at the window."

Germany offers tax breaks - including 35 per cent of startup costs - and a technically skilled labour force The region's low wages and 17-per-cent unemployment rate make it an ideal recruiting ground for staff. German .. "We cannot even confirm that we are even dealing with the company." ...Societe Generale de Financement du Quebec's SGF proposal .. was chosen by Mosel Vitelic over similar ones from Burlington, Ont., and Surrey, B.C. The SGF is reported to have offered to put up half the investment.

As we analyse the details of the Québec budget this Wednesday, let us ponder the thought: "The difference between the magician's act and the Finance Minister's is that for the former we watch how the rabbit gets pulled out of the hat, whereas with the Minister we wonder how the rabbit got in". (Profesor Tony Deutsch)

Man - and for that matter, Woman - does not live by the budget alone, however, therefore there will indeed be other topics, including last weekend's meeting of municipally-inclined minds.

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We Can Help Bernard Landry

DEBT

from Wed941 Wednesday-Night #941 on debt

CANADA

March 15, 2000
Debt is a drag on the economy. According to the budget, the Federal debt stands at $576 billion, although it could be assessed at $560 billion if some offsetting assets are included. But the real number is much bigger if we include all!

Jacque Clément

To get the complete picture, the federal, provincial debt should be combined as the feds can print money but the provinces cannot. Ottawa won't print money however, says our central banker, as this would be inflationary. If the debt is consolidated, as is done in France and Italy, then Canada rates as the fifth worst among 45 countries measured on a debt to GDP ratio. Servicing this Debt cost over $45b a year ...many times the cost of Medi Care

Canada was at 60% indebtedness, and is planning to move to 50%. Paying off the debt may drive interest rates down, which in the long run may be good for social programs (students and entrepreneurs could borrow more cheaply.

QUEBEC

Québec has balanced its books this year and now has a surplus of some $2 billion, however, the provincial debt stands at $100.2 billion and currently at 48% debt/GDP. And that doesn't count the $38 billion debt owed by Hydro Québec. The Parti Québecois has no intention of paying the debt down although there is now Québec legislation forcing the hospitals to balance their budgets and pay down their loans. Would a reduced debt not be a " winning condition" for Québec - making it a stronger economic entity?

We should not forget that there are totally different perspectives in Ottawa and Québec. The Federal government is based on the principle of sound fiscal management. However, Article 1 of the PQ Party Policy fixes separation as the ultimate goal. Landry is out to buy votes, and to him and most of the Québec public - debt does not matter. What does concern them is being the most highly taxed province in North America, while the health care and other services are poor.

In this connection comments were made on the $825 million sitting in a Toronto bank account, which should be spent on health care. This is good fiscal management? Talk about "washing one's dirty Landry in public!"

WHAT IS THE SOLUTION?

"Debt and debt reduction has no constituency". How do you go about selling debt reduction?

Tony Deutsch & Sonia Singh

Tony Deutsch opined that the federal financial assumptions are on the conservative side and the overall economy may well do better than predicted. However, at the provincial level, assumptions are over-optimistic and there well may be problems in a couple of year's time. There could be a snap election, as the PQ will argue there is a surplus, and they have turned the economy around. The employment growth figures are the best in 28 years, with 75,000 jobs created last year in Québec. GDP is at 3.3% here and 4.0% in the US. Housing starts are up to 50,000 units. The PQ in any election would use all the good economic news as ammunition.

HIGHER EDUCATION AND GOVERNMENT FUNDING

The universities are a regulated industry (especially here in Québec), and there are no incentives to optimize the operation. Fees should be deregulated, as has been done in some Ontario University programs. see #941 on education

DOWNLOADING

NO! NON!    The court decision on the challenge by the City of Westmount to the $322 million downloading should come in about 2 months. What appears to be happening is the removal of municipal revenue on a permanent basis, offset by a one-time handout OF $170 million (whereas Landry promised $430 million) for all municipalities. This is part of Landry's plan to improve the economy and lower unemployment as part of creating the "winning conditions".

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Try a small test also try

A movie of the Cirque du Soleil you select; all 6 clips are fun.

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BenardLandry.htm > Wed next

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Landry: target is 10,000 jobs in production.

Tuesday 27 April 1999 837 new multimedia jobs $15,000 annual subsidy for each post will be recouped, Landry says JAN RAVENSBERGEN Lucrative Quebec government incentives have drawn a further 15 multimedia companies - and a promised 873 new jobs over the next three years - to the provincial government's Cite du Multimedia project adjacent to Old Montreal, the province announced yesterday.

The fresh influx brings to 36 the number of multimedia and related companies which have signed up to take advantage of exceptionally generous Quebec tax credits of as much as $15,000 per job created, per year, from June 15 through to the end of 2010.

Tuesday 27 April 1999 Boost economy with tax cuts, not handouts JAY BRYAN Leapin' tax burden! Fast Bernie Landry has done it again. This fearless champion of entrepreneurship has created 873 virtual jobs over the next three years (we won't know the actual number until this promise has been long forgotten, of course). And he did it using nothing more than creativity, hard work and $100 million or so of taxpayer-funded handouts.

Montreal - Mega-city or not? do see #894 for more

amalgamation? Peter Trent getting legal