he francophone province of Québec is often noted for the sophisticated flair of Montréal, home to an eclectic blend of cinematic, high-tech and aerospace activity. Savvy corporations, however, have taken note of the province's overall sophistication when it comes to situating facilities of every stripe, from paper mills to petrochemicals.
        "Québec's economy as a whole is not very much affected by the downfall in technology due to its diversified industrial structure," says Jean Matuszewski, senior economist with E&B Data, an Outremont, Québec-based research organization.
        Québec's economy was key to Canada's 4.3 percent growth in GDP during the second quarter of 2002, nearly four times the U.S. growth rate of 1.1 percent. Central to that statistic was a 9.8-percent rise in corporate profits and a 4.8-percent rise in equipment and machinery investment.

Infrastructure Still Rock-Solid Among other conditions contributing to its site location decision for a PTT plant, Shell found the Montréal area's transport infrastructure more than passable for the northern half of North America.         "The rail links are excellent," says Antony Patterson. "To my surprise when I arrived here, I'm only 40 miles (64 km.) from New York state, so you're not very far out of the U.S. Sea links are pretty good. So this is not a bad place to be in terms of logistics."         "Not bad" could evolve into "very good" now that Canadian National Railway Co. has opened its new $30.2-million intermodal freight terminal, which occupies about a quarter of CN's 920-acre (372-hectare) Taschereau Yard in Montréal and is expected to serve more than 1,000 trucks per day. CN President Paul M. Tellier calls the new facility "a key terminal" in the railroad's network of 20 hubs and satellites in Canada and the U.S.         "Intermodal traffic -- the transportation of containers and truck trailers by rail -- is central to CN's market share and revenue growth plans," says Tellier.

        The Québecois also invest in their R&D, with 20 companies in the province making Canada's Top 100 Corporate R&D Spenders List 2002, released in June by Research Infosource. In fact, six made the Top 10: Pratt & Whitney (No. 3, spending US$280.8 million), Alcan (No. 8), Tembec (No. 11), Pfizer Canada (No. 13), Bombardier (No. 16) and Merck Frosst Canada (No. 19).
        That sampling reveals two things about those who choose Québec: they are high flyers from diverse industries, and they receive significant support from the government in pursuit of a whole range of projects. Even though some experts continue to see the predominance of future project investment directed toward natural resource-based projects in the forest products, mining and oil and gas sectors, such developments as the lowering of the capital tax rate by more than half, from 0.64 percent to 0.30 percent between now and 2007, may already be stoking new fires of innovation.