NOTE TO READER

There are several excellent Internet sources of information about the economy and the industries of Quebec and of its regions as well as of Montreal. Persons interested in immigration to or work in Quebec are advised to consult these sites.

The following is a short list of recommended websites.

Montreal International

Investissement Quebec

Economic and financial profile of Quebec

Industrial sectors

Quebec handy numbers (2008)

Montreal In Vivo

• Second largest provincial economy of Canada, with 21% of the country's Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
  
• At about Cdn$265 billion its GDP is equivalent to that of Portugal's.
• Internationally recognized for the quality of its high tech industrial sectors.
  
• World leaders in pharmaceuticals and biotechnology, aerospace, information and multimedia technologies as well as telecommunications.
  
• High quality technical training institutions, university education and R&D.
  
• Strength in traditional industries such as forestry, mining, hydroelectricity.
  
• Touristic destination of choice.

Economic structure

Quebec GDP - Sector distribution (2005)

Foreign trade

Quebec exports the equivalent of 57% of its GDP, mostly to the US and the other Canadian Provinces. Out of every dollar exported to the rest of the world, 84 cents are destined for the US and Quebec is that country's 4th largest customer, ahead of China, the UK , Germany and South Korea.

Since the late 1980's exports from Quebec to the rest of the world (excluding other Provinces of Canada) have exploded: their value increased threefold and their share of GDP climbed from 21% (1988) to 37% (2005).

During the past two decades there were very large increases in high value added products such as:

• airplanes and parts (600%)
• chemical products (more than 400%)
• machines and equipment (more than 300%)
• telecommunication equipment (more than 230 %).
  
  

Quebec also exports:

• forest products (wood for construction, newsprint, pulp, paper)
• agro food products (hogs and pork, maple syrup).
• metals (aluminum, copper etc)
• electricity
  
  

Hydroelectricity

About 95% of Quebec electricity production is from hydroelectricity. Hydro Québec, the government corporation in charge of the production and distribution of electricity manages some 83 hydroelectric plants with a combined 39000MW of power. Existing potential amounts to an estimated additional 47 000 MW. The world's largest hydroelectric complex, the La Grande complex, is located in Quebec and is comprised of eight plants with a combined 16,021 MW capacity. This represents about one quarter of all of Canada's installed capacity.

Alternative sources of energy, such as wind power, are also being developed at a fast rate.

Mines

Quebec ranks among the world's largest mining producers and the mineral potential is probably 2 to 3 times greater than the known potential. Some 30 mines are in operation, more than 150 companies do exploration work and about 15 industries are involved in transforming minerals and metals. Mining activity is significant in the following regions of the Province: Abitibi-Temiscamingue, Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean, Grand-North and North Coast.

Quebec is a large producer of niobium (world ranked in second place), copper, iron ore, zinc, gold and silver. It also ranks second in magnesium production and fourth in aluminum. Alcoa and Rio Tinto Alcan produce aluminum at several plants, and benefit from abundant low cost hydroelectricity.

Forests

Forest cover about 50% of the territory of Quebec. This is an area equivalent to the combined areas of Sweden and Norway or twice Germany's land area.

Forests contain many species of conifers (balsam fir, black spruce, white pine and larch), softwood (white and red pine, hemlock and cedar more to the south) and hardwood ( birch, poplar false Balsam, poplar, sugar maple and other species of maples, yellow birch and beech, limes, a few species of oak, ash, hickory) .

Quebec is a large producer of newsprint and pulp as well as other types of paper, most of which are exported to the USA.

Useful links

• Close-up on mines
• Close-up on forests
  
  

Aerospace

Canada is a major player in aerospace at the world level, but two thirds of this industry's activity is generated in the Province of Quebec, mostly in the Montreal metropolitan area. Only Seattle has a higher aerospace employment density than Montreal, which is itself ahead of the French city of Toulouse.

With Montreal being the second world aerospace capital, Quebec ranks sixth as a producer of aerospace products. Several world renowned multinationals are located in the Province as well as numerous Canadian companies.

Aerospace - Facts and figures:

240 enterprises

70 % of Canada's aerospace R&D

40 000 specialized employees

1% of Montreal employment

Montreal: the only area in the world where in a 20 mile radius all the parts required to build a aircraft are produced.

Production volume: Quebec is ranked sixth after the USA, France, the UK, Germany and Japan.

world class prime contractors and major original equipment manufacturers

impressive network of suppliers and subcontractors: machining, finishing, electronics and wiring, computers, cutting tools, interior finishing, fasteners, castings, composites and optics

about thirty aircraft maintenance and repair companies

largest engineer pool within Canada

Abundant specialized and competitive manpower

Edge training institutions

Several international organizations have their head office in Montreal :

• International Air Transport Association (IATA)
• International Civilian Aviation Association(ICAO)
• Société internationale de télécommunications aéronautiques (SITA)
• Canadian Space Agency (CSA)
• International Business Aviation Council (IBAC)
• International aerospace training council (IATC)
• Institute of Air & Space Law  (IASL)
• IATA Training and Development Institute
• International head office of Cospas-Sarsat
  
  

Useful links

• Aerospace (Invest Quebec)
• Aerospace (Montreal International)
  
  

Information and telecommunication technologies (ITC)

The ITC sector employs more than 120 000 persons within almost 6 000 enterprises. Montreal has the 4th highest ITC employment intensity in North America.

The main activities within this sector include:

• telecommunication services
• computer and software services
• multimedia
• microelectronics
  
  

a) The telecommunication industry is represented by about 200 businesses employing 17 000 persons distributed mainly in the following areas:

• Telecom services (Bell Canada, Bell Mobility, Microcell Telecom, Rogers Wireless Communications, Teleglobe, Allstream, Telus Mobility, etc.)
• Internet services (Yellow pages, Videotron Telecom, etc.)
• Other (Anixter Canada, Fibres Optiques du Québec, Affina Corp., etc.)
  
  

Quebec City's has a well developed optics/photonics sector as well as four important R&D and innovation centers:

• National Optics Institute (INO);
• The Laval University ''Centre d'optique, photonique et laser de l'Université Laval'' (COPL);
• The Government of Canada's Defence R&D Canada - Valcartier ;
• The Canadian Institute for Photonic Innovations (CIPI).
  
  

b) More than 4000 computer and software service businesses (see short list in table below) employ about 60 000 persons. Their activities are diverse: Integrated management resources, electronic business, client relations management, systems security, knowledge management and logistics chain management.

c) Multimedia businesses in Quebec specialize in animation software, movie special effects, the creation of video games and the production and editing of multimedia documents. Some 70 enterprises, including 40 studios are involved in developing and marketing interactive games and software for the industry.

Several institutions also train the specialists required by the industry. These include not only colleges and universities but also renowned private training centers such as the National Animation and Design Center (NAD) or the National audio-visual institute (Institut national de l'image et du son (INIS) contribute to train about 4000 graduates annually in computer science and other specialties for the multimedia industry.

Montreal is recognized as one of the major international digital interactive media center for the entertainment business.

 
d) The Quebec microelectronic sector includes close to 300 businesses (40% of which are foreign owned) which conceive and produce electronic circuits, electronic and photonic components and systems, or manufacture conception and test software. According to Investissement Québec some 20 000 persons work in this industry.

Useful links

• Microelectronics
• Multimedia
• Telecommunications
• Alliance numériQC
  
  

Life science industries

Life science industries are very strong in Quebec and consist mostly of medical and pharmaceutical research, biotechnology, brand name drug manufacturing, and medical device and equipment manufacturing. These employ close to 25 000 people in about 400 enterprises.

Quebec ranks fourth in North-America both for the number of biotechs present and for the share of employment by pharmaceutical companies. Almost 50% of Canada's biopharmaceutical industries are located in Quebec and most of the country's fundamental and clinical research is done in Montreal.

Several businesses such as DSM Biologics, the Institut de recherche en biotechnologie (CNRC), Medicago and PharmAthene produce proteins for therapeutic use.

Montreal is Canada's major center in genomics :

• McGill University and Génome Québec Innovation Centre: genotyping services, ADN micro-chips, pharmacogenomics, proteomics and sequencing.
• NRC Biotechnology Research Institute is Canada's most important biotech R&D centre with almost 1000 employees.
• University of Montreal's Robert-Cedergren Centre: at the forefront of bio-informatics and genomic research
• Centre protéomique de l'Est du Québec: mass proteomic spectrometry; Canada research Chair in proteomics
  
  

About 2 dozen businesses do contract research:

• Cato Research Canada
• Charles-River Laboratories
• Covance 
• Icon
• MDS Pharma Services
• Quintiles Canada
• Anapharm
  
  

• Abundant and low cost hydroelectric energy
• A network of waterways which facilitate the supply of raw materials and export of finished products
• Proximity with the large US market
  
  

Facts and figures - Aluminum 

• 3 major producers: Rio Tinto Alcan (6 plants), Alcoa (3 plants) and Aluminerie Alouette;
• Aluminerie Alouette is an international consortium made up of 5 partners: Rio Tinto Alcan (40 %), Austria Metall (20 %), Hydro aluminium (Norway, 20 %), SGF (Canada, 13.33 %) and Marubeni (Japan, 6.67 %)
• Total installed capacity is 2.7 million metric tons per year;
• 2005 value of shipments: Cdn$ 6.1 billion.