On Quebec’s massive subsidies to gaming firms
Researchers from the University of Sherbrooke looked into Quebec’s subsidies to videogaming companies, and they’re massive. As Francis Vailles observes here, when the subsidies were dreamed up in 1996, the employment situation in Quebec was different, and he feels there’s no longer a pressing need to help out foreign firms in this way.
JaneyB 19:17 on 2023-02-28 Permalink
Yeah, it’s quite the lush subsidy system but it’s not about the money. It’s about providing cool jobs for young people to stay in QC and have kids instead of drifting away to BC or the US. It’s also about luring young Francais.e.s to shore up the birthrate and inject some solid French language skills and non-Anglo culture into the province. In that sense, it’s a bargain. What the govt should be doing is forcing those foreign companies to locate in smaller centres around the province to fix the immanent demographic decline there and hold house values steady. I’m sure that’s in the works if it’s not already rolling out.