Time for Quebec to quit buying into companies
The SGF exists to help develop Quebec industries by buying into selected companies until they get going. It's not working very well.
The impending doom of the mothballed $733-million magnesium plant called Magnola, at Asbestos, does at least remind Quebecers yet again of the costly foolishness of government playing favourites in the private sector. Noranda Inc. announced the Magnola plan in 1997. Eager to prop up a dwindling town, the Quebec government's Société générale de financement (SGF) reached for its chequebook, snapping up a stake which f...
