RONA, LOWE’S SHUT 27 STORES

PQ, QS demand policy changes

Premier François Legault said Monday that it is “too late” to do anything about the closure of nine Rona stores in Quebec by U.S. hardware giant Lowe’s. “We need to look forward. We can’t re-do history. We can’t re-do the decision that was made by the Liberal government to let Rona’s headquarters go,” Legault told reporters. But Legault promised his Coalition Avenir Québec government will “do everything” to keep other companies’ headquarters in Quebec. “I will make sure, with Investissement Québec, among others, that we lose as few as possible in the future,” he added. Earlier Monday, the Parti Québécois and Québec solidaire called for Legault’s government to review the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec’s mandate following the closings. The restructuring at Lowe’s has plunged Quebec workers and suppliers into uncertainty, the PQ and QS insisted. Both parties are demanding the Caisse do more in the future to prevent Quebec businesses from being sold to foreign interests. In short, PQ finance critic Martin Ouellet said, the Caisse has to better play its role as an economic lever. Ouellet said it could have blocked the $3.2-billion transaction in 2016. Québec solidaire’s spokesperson on the economy, Ruba Ghazal, called for a parliamentary commission to address the issue and recalled that the CAQ had strongly opposed the Rona sale in 2016. “Premier Legault can prove that he really is different from the Liberal party and explain his plan to protect local workers and suppliers,” she said in a statement. Mathieu St-Amant, the press secretary for Economy Minister Pierre Fitzgibbon, said the government “will closely follow the decisions of the company in light of the commitments made in the context of the transaction. We must ensure that our headquarters are well protected and that Quebec businesses are growing here and internationally.” The PQ and QS were also quick to point out contradictions Monday between Legault’s stance on the Rona sale and the position of Christian Dubé, now Legault’s Treasury Board president but formerly an executive with the Caisse. In 2016, Legault, then in the opposition, denounced the Rona sale as reducing Quebec’s business landscape to a “branch economy.” However, in September of this year, Dubé said the sale was justified. He said the Caisse succeeded in keeping a balance “between the economic development of Quebec and a return for depositors.”