PQ announces $2-billion jobs plan

The Parti Qubcois government is vying to reboot the provinces economy with a new $2-billion plan that it says will create more than 40,000 jobs by 2017.

Premier Pauline Marois and Finance Minister Nicolas Marceau revealed thejob creation program at a press conference Monday that had the look and feel of an election campaign event.

The plan aims toencourage new investments andjobs in Quebec through incentives likeelectricity at discounted rates and tax credits.

The money injected into the province will fund employment and development in a number of targeted areas:

• $566-million for the renovation of infrastructure, including community centres, arenas and schools
• $516-million for the development of an electric transit industry in Quebec that will build electric cars, electric railways, and related infrastructure.

The new plan also includes more than $700-million in tax credits as well as discounted hydro rates for companies which invest to create new jobs.

Combined with other recently announced measures, Marois said her government expects to see a total of115,000 new jobs created by 2017.

Maroisdenied that the measures suggested that her governmentwas planning for an election. She said the plan hasbeen under consideration for the last four months.

Yves-Thomas Dorval, president of Quebecs largest employers group, the Conseil du patronat, told CBC Newsthat the governments new plan will do little to reverse the current downturn in the provinces economy.

Theres no big change here. They are good measures, but not really what we need to bring Quebec to the level we would like, he said.

Opposition parties question plan's logic

Members of the opposition in the national assembly also questioned the logic of thenew plan.

Theres a lot more than the price of electricity that a company has to consider before it invests, said Franois Legault, leader of the Coalition Avenir Qubec. "All this does is add tobureaucracy."

Qubec Solidaires Amir Khadir said the government should be investing in the social and economic development of the province rather than private and foreign investors.

We need investment in the prosperity of all, not a few investors, he said.

Khadir also said it was hard not to see the plans unveiling as evidence that an election was near.

That means this plan is just propaganda before an election.