PHIL TURNER
Quebec's deputy premier Pauline Marois announced C$80 million ($52 million) of new investment in the province's aerospace industry at Le Bourget yesterday and the creation of 530 new jobs over the next three years.
The nine projects include three companies that are investing C$58 million into the Montreal Foreign Trade Zone at Mirabel Airport. International Cargo Equipment Resource (ICER), specialist in the parcel airfreight between major Canadian cities, have put C$43.5 million into a repair and cargo handling centre at Mirabel.
Marois, who is also Minister for the Economy and Finance, was joined on the Quebec stand (A20, Hall 5) by Industry and Trade Minister Gilles Baril to lend further provincial government backing to the investment.
The government's Investissement Quebec will grant C$3.4 million in loans and loan guarantees to five of the companies to support the projects.
She also stated that with sales in excess of C$9 billion in the year 2000, representing 55% of Canadian production, 40,000 jobs and C$500 million spent on R&D, Quebec is at the heart of the Canadian aerospace industry.
Source: Flight Daily News
