Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, right, and Quebec Premier Francois Legault respond to reporters questions at a news conference after they announced major investments in shipbuilding, at the Davie shipyard in Levis, Que., on April 4.Jacques Boissinot/The Canadian Press
It was no coincidence that Quebec Premier François Legault was standing in a shipyard when he started praising Justin Trudeau to the heavens.
You might have heard Mr. Legault in the past complaining the Prime Minister wasn’t putting enough money into health care or, in the 2021 election, endorsing Mr. Trudeau’s Conservative opponent, Erin O’Toole.
But on Tuesday Mr. Legault was all gratitude. Merci, he said to “Justin.” Several times.
The two politicians were at the Davie shipyard in Lévis, Que., announcing that it would now be the third shipbuilder taking part in the national shipbuilding strategy – from which Davie was left out in 2015.
Mr. Legault was beaming as he said Quebec will pump $519-million into the shipyard, but it will be backstopped by $8.5-billion in guaranteed federal work. Work that will be done across the river from Quebec City, adding 1,800 jobs – “1,800 well-paying jobs!” he repeated.
So it makes sense. It’s no surprise that the Quebec Premier would be happy with all this federal money. Politicians love to announce jobs and boosts to the local economy.
And that’s the thing Mr. Trudeau will have going for him on a grand scale now. The Liberal government’s big industrial subsidy programs will bring pats on the back from premiers, mayors and third-party endorsers.
Mr. Legault didn’t stop at lauding Mr. Trudeau for the shipbuilding contracts, or for making a deal with U.S. President Joe Biden to close the border crossing at Roxham Road.
He was also beaming at the $80-billion incentive program for clean industry, and in particular the federal decision to extend those subsidies to provincial-government entities such as Quebec’s power utility, Hydro-Québec.
That’s a boon for the provincial government – and perhaps all provincial governments – but there is no premier more excited about expanding the provincial utility than Mr. Legault, who has been playing up the economic potential of Quebec’s hydro power since the day he took office. “We want to increase capacity by 50 per cent and the assistance from the federal government is going to help us,” he said.
“Thanks, Justin, for putting that program in place.”
Mr. Legault’s exuberant thumbs-up for Liberal industrial policy guarantees doesn’t amount to an overall endorsement, and even that would not guarantee gains at the ballot box for Mr. Trudeau in the next election. The Quebec Premier is popular, but his endorsement for Mr. O’Toole didn’t make Tories winners in the province in 2021.
However, it won’t be easy for political opponents to criticize Mr. Trudeau’s big industrial-incentive programs, either. That would mean clashing with all the local leaders who want those announcements.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford’s government is particularly keen on subsidies to help develop small nuclear reactors. The governments of Alberta and Saskatchewan have no love for Mr. Trudeau but they’ll like it when Ottawa takes on some of the cost of power infrastructure, and subsidies for carbon capture and storage, too. Atlantic Canada premiers want to know whether it will make the Atlantic Loop transmission mega-project viable.
And Mr. Ford’s Progressive Conservative government is more than happy to see the feds pour money into luring industry to Ontario.
When Volkswagen announced it had picked St. Thomas, Ont., as the site of the new electric-vehicle battery plant – aided by a still unspecified, and perhaps unprecedented multibillion-dollar subsidy – Mr. Ford’s provincial Tories were miffed that federal Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre questioned how much it would cost taxpayers. The local MP for Elgin-Middlesex-London, Conservative Karen Vecchio, seems pretty keen on the plant; So does St. Thomas Mayor Joe Preston, a former Conservative MP.
Maybe that’s why Mr. Poilievre can’t decide whether he’s for or against the Liberal green-industry subsidies.
In fact, Mr. Trudeau’s Liberals have built an economic policy that has built-in protections from criticism.
Some parts of the policy are better than others. Encouraging investment in clean energy is important. The value of paying companies to build plants in Canada depends on what it brings and how much it costs. But local government is always going to welcome them.
That creates political advantage for Mr. Trudeau. He’s already travelling around the country to make the most of it, and you can expect a lot more to come.
He might not always be greeted by a gushing François Legault every time he brings federal largesse to towns and regions across Canada. But in most places, there will be someone waiting to greet him with a pat on the back.