Subsidies cut into Quebec's revenue, report says BERTRAND MAROTTE, Toronto Globe & Mail

Subsidies cut into Quebec's revenue, report says BERTRAND MAROTTE, Toronto Globe & Mail

13th April 2007

Quebec stands to miss out on $2.7-billion in revenue as a result of the generous subsidies it is providing to aluminum giant Alcan Inc. for the construction of a new smelter, a new study says.

The analysis, published yesterday by the Montreal Economic Institute, also warns that the Quebec government can no longer justify the continued sale of low-priced electricity to major industrial consumers. The province would do far better selling electricity at higher prices on the export market and using the revenue to generate more efficient economic spinoffs, such as enabling job creation by the private sector through tax cuts, says the study prepared by Université Laval economics professors Jean-Thomas Bernard and Gérard Bélanger.

The report warns Quebec would be making a big mistake if it were to extend similar subsidies to another aluminum giant, Alcoa Inc.

Pittsburgh-based Alcoa is seeking concessions from Quebec on two proposed projects.