The abundance of natural resources
The strength of the Québec economy lies in its abundance of natural resources. Québec boasts vast forests, extractive industries, rich farmland, countless bodies of water and, above all, enormous hydroelectric potential.
In the forestry industry, Quebec is responsible for a third of Canada's pulp production, much of which is exported to the United States, our biggest trading partner. Nearly fifteen years ago, however, this sector experienced a number of difficulties and mills were forced to close, putting thousands of workers out of work in the province. Some, such as AbitibiBowater, now known as Produits forestiers Résolu, have undergone beneficial restructuring to ensure their long-term survival.
Mainly concentrated on the north and south shores of the St. Lawrence, the agricultural and livestock sectors are also doing quite well in Quebec. Dairy production leads the way, but these agricultural regions also produce pigs, cattle, poultry, cereals (corn, barley, wheat, oats, etc.), market garden produce and fruit crops (blueberries, apples, strawberries, raspberries, etc.). Commercial fishing takes place mainly in Quebec's maritime regions (Bas-Saint-Laurent, Gaspésie, Îles de la Madeleine and Côte-Nord), where cod, halibut, herring, mackerel, walleye, sturgeon, salmon, trout and shellfish (crab, lobster, shrimp, scallops, etc.) abound.
Quebec's subsoil is also rich in metallic minerals: gold, silver, iron, copper, zinc, lead, nickel and lithium (the latter is important for the development of the battery industry). Its share of Canadian production is set to increase over the next few years, thanks to the provincial government's Plan Nord. Targeting the vast, virtually untouched territory north of the 49th parallel, this development project is built around its mining, energy, social, cultural and tourism potential.
Last but not least, hydroelectricity is Québec's main resource. It provides the energy needed for the wood industry, petrochemicals and electrometallurgy. La Romaine, the most recent project of Hydro-Québec (the state-owned company managing the hydroelectric network and its development), ran from 2009 to 2022 (with some finishing work on the Romaine-4 complex completed in 2023). Comprising four reservoir-fed power stations, the complex delivers an average annual output of 8 TWh.
Niches and poles of excellence
The ACCORD niches and poles of excellence have become true global brands for the regions of Quebec, allowing them to shine thanks to the development of cutting-edge technologies and research centers while benefiting from a trained and qualified workforce. In the Montreal and Laval regions, industrial clusters bring together specific sectors of expertise.
The electronic systems industry, optics-photonics and ground transportation are among the centres of excellence, while sectors such as marine resources, sciences and technologies in the Lower St. Lawrence, AgroBoreal in Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean, environmental bio-industries in the Eastern Townships and four-season resort tourism in the Laurentians are regional niches. Some regions of Quebec have also developed specialized skills that are renowned beyond the province's borders: precious mineral extraction in Abitibi; video games, multimedia, aerospace and film production in Montreal; aluminum in Saguenay, etc. Quebec has other sectors of excellence such as research and innovation, energy, industrial design and construction.
The province is also a good place forstartups, which benefit from a network of technology workshops(fab labs), business incubators and gas pedals, and collaborative work spaces(coworking).
A popular tourist destination
Tourism seems to be back on track in Quebec since the borders reopened. Even during the pandemic, several regions enjoyed exceptional, even record-breaking tourist seasons, with unparalleled occupancy rates thanks to the domestic market. In normal times, the three most-visited tourist regions in Quebec are, in order, Montreal, the Quebec City region and the Laurentians, but more remote areas such as Gaspésie and Côte-Nord are also booming. Excluding the United States, France is Quebec's largest overseas market.
To bring together industry players while ensuring the deployment of promotional campaigns, the Alliance de l'industrie touristique du Québec was created in 2016 and aims to make the province a world-class tourism destination. By 2022, more than 23,000 businesses will be operating in tourism-related sectors (hotels, restaurants, transportation, etc.), providing a total of around 355,000 jobs. The number of visitors, which includes both local and international tourists and excursionists, was 56.9 million (including 6.1 million tourists from outside Quebec). Tourist spending (including Quebecers) was in the order of $12.8 billion.
Political and social issues
Over the past decade, a number of political and social issues have caused a stir in the province, starting with the Maple Spring in 2012, fueled by the student movement against tuition fee hikes and the ensuing social crisis, which triggered a general election the following fall. The Quebec Liberal Party was replaced by the Parti Québécois, albeit in a minority, but which fulfilled many of its promises in the first days of its mandate: replacing the drastic tuition fee hike with indexation to the cost of living, announcing the definitive closure of the Gentilly nuclear power plant, repealing most of the notoriously repressive Bill 12 (obligation to provide education and prohibition on obstructing it, strict supervision of the right to demonstrate, fines...), etc. Liberal and Caquist (Coalition Avenir Québec party) MPs then joined forces to bring down the new government, notably following the bill on the Quebec Charter of Values tabled in November 2013. This charter affirmed the values of secularism and the religious neutrality of the State, as well as equality between women and men, not to mention a framework for requests for reasonable accommodation (compromises made by a society in relation to the demands - especially religious - of the cultural minorities that make it up). A project decried by both sides, dividing the people on the question of religion in Quebec. In the end, the bill failed to pass, and a general election was called for April 7, 2014. The Parti québécois loses half its seats, including the party leader's, bringing Philippe Couillard's Liberals to power.
Freshly elected, the Quebec Liberal Party decided that austerity would be the watchword of its government. Of course, these measures were never announced during the party's election campaign, and they hit women, young people, the most disadvantaged and the regions hardest. Despite warnings from the IMF, not to mention the fact that Quebec is one of Canada's least indebted provinces, the government is embarking on unprecedented cuts. Moreover, support for oil and gas development in Quebec, with draft regulations allowing drilling in water and land near populated areas, schools, protected areas and national parks, is not helping the popularity of Philippe Couillard's Liberal government. Thus, the results of the October 2018 elections signaled a change of course. "New" parties distinguished themselves, bringing François Legault's Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ) (a party founded in 2011) to power, while the Québec Solidaire (QS) party, founded in 2006 and represented by spokespersons Manon Massé and Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois, also made a strong breakthrough. François Legault's majority government thus puts an end to half a century of alternation between the Liberal Party of Quebec (PLQ) and the Parti Québécois (PQ), which suffered a severe defeat. The feat was repeated in October 2022, when the CAQ won 90 of the 125 seats in the National Assembly in the general election. Its management of both the pandemic and the economy clearly played in its favor. However, the Quebec government faces many challenges, not least environmental. The 2018 election campaign gave little space in the debates to the environment, leaving a bitter taste in the mouths of groups and citizens mobilized by these issues. There were a number of civil society initiatives, such as the annual Energy Summit, as well as large marches, such as "La Planète s'invite au Parlement" in 2018 and "La marche pour le climat" in 2019, led by Greta Thunberg. That said, the Caquist government seems to have changed its tune of late, placing greater emphasis on environmental protection, sustainable development and the energy transition. It's worth noting that these issues were at the forefront of the 2022 campaign, with the electorate increasingly aware of this major issue.
Other hot topics: secularism and immigration. In the very first months of its mandate in 2018, the Caquist government put the secular nature of the State back on the agenda with a new law adopted just before the summer break. At the same time, it took the opportunity to reform the immigration system to align it more closely with the economic needs of the province, which is currently experiencing a major labor shortage. Despite popular discontent, the majority of Quebecers are in favor of adopting the two new laws. We must also keep an eye on other issues affecting Quebec, such as the decline of the French language, but also - as is the case almost everywhere else - new technologies (artificial intelligence, big data, crypto-currencies, etc.), anti-feminism, systemic discrimination, tax havens, electoral reform, fake news, the transformation of cities..
