The four trade union centres suggest that you adopt a Buy Quebec Act with a number of targeted areas including the bio-food products.
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June 18, 2020 16.55
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Revival of the economy : the four power plants offer a Buy Quebec Act
Lia Lévesque
The Canadian Press
MONTREAL — While the déconfinement is going well and that Québec is planning the revival of the economy, the four trade union centres suggested that he adopt a Buy Quebec Act, a bit like there’s a Buy America Act in the United States.
The FTQ, the CSN, the CSQ, and the CSD have jointly prepared a document of 44 pages on the economy that they would like to see reborn, after the peak of the crisis of the sars coronavirus.
Between other ways, they suggest a Buy Quebec Act, which goes further that the mere fact of promote buying local. It would be a procurement policy to increase the manufacturing capacity in quebec of certain products — this can be done according to the major international trade agreements, say they.
“Eat local, this is good. Produce in Quebec, it is better”, summed up the four plants.
They target three sectors, more specifically : pharmaceutical products, medical equipment, such as masks and bio-food products.
In the pharmaceutical field, they require no longer allow private companies to determine only the priorities of research.
In the field of bio-food, they advise to “work to improve its food self-sufficiency”.
“It is too risky to depend exclusively on a few countries, notably China, for the production of essential goods. The world economy must be reorganized so as to promote the resilience of national economies to crises such as the COVID-19,” write they.
The four also suggest a “reindustrialization” of Quebec, which focused more on the second and the third transformation of natural resources.
The plants also provide that, in the medium-and long-term assistance to businesses is granted in consideration of job creation, wage conditions, environmental results and investments on the territory.
They also insist that no State support is granted to a company that does business in tax havens or tax avoidance.
For the relaunch, they remind us that the solidarity Funds of the FTQ and Fondaction CSN are already there to support businesses.
And whereas the minister of Finance, Eric Girard, has already pledged not to raise taxes and the Quebec sales Tax to generate more revenue, the four call for caution in this chapter.
“The central trade unions consider that it is too early to exclude such an option,” write-in their paper on the recovery.
