François Legault rolled out the red carpet on Tuesday by betting $ 160 million in the construction of the Enerkem biofuel plant, one of whose shareholders is linked to a tax haven.
On Tuesday, the Prime Minister and his ministers of Economy and Energy announced with great fanfare in Montreal an $ 80 million loan and an investment in preferred shares of $ 80 million for a total of $ 160 million in the project. Recyclage Carbone Varennes’s $ 875 million plant in Enerkem, in Montérégie.
However, Enerkem’s first (non-majority) shareholder in Waste Management of Canada Corporation, of Texas, as second RV V Holdings SRL, of New York, and as third BEV Holdings SRL, of Barbados, according to the Registraire des entreprises du Québec ( REQ).
Photo le Journal de Montréal, Francis Halin
The Minister of the Economy, Pierre Fitzgibbon, said he was proud to support Enerkem so that it keeps its head office here.
–
–
–
Paradise Papers
Barbados is on the blacklist of tax havens in the European Union (EU). It appears on the Tax Justice Network list that the Quebec Ministry of Finance cites in a 2016 report on tax havens.
- Listen to Emmanuelle Latraverse’s column at the microphone of Richard Martineau on QUB radio:
In addition, the names of the second and third shareholders, RV V Holdings SRL and BEV Holdings SRL, appear in the Paradise Papers of the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ).
“There are spinoffs for Quebec. There are fallouts during construction. These employees will pay taxes to the Government of Quebec, so the calculation we make is: one, we invest, and two, we will collect additional tax revenue, ”replied the Prime Minister when The newspaper asked him if the role of the state is to help a firm with large foreign shareholders.
According to him, the 500 jobs created with the construction of the plant and the hundred others during its operation justify the investment.
When we asked Dominique Boies, CEO and CFO of Enerkem, what he thought of the fact that his third shareholder is located in a tax haven, he said he was happy to see foreigners invest here.
- Listen to François Lambert’s column on QUB radio
“It is not a tax haven because you have to understand that when people invest in a fund, it is called a flow-through, the money, the impacts, and the tax is payable by each of the unitholders, so there is no tax evasion in that, ”he explained.
In passing, Mr. Boies insisted: Enerkem is indeed a Quebec company. Its head office is here. Its some 150 senior employees are here. “Is the Caisse de dépôt an investor in our company? No. At some point, you have to look to sources of capital, which are ready to encourage technological innovation, ”he shares.
Public money
This is not the first time that Quebec has invested in Enerkem. At least $ 44.6 million in financial assistance of all kinds has already been granted to Enerkem in recent years. This new $ 160 million brings that figure to $ 204.6 million.
At his side, on Tuesday, the Federal Minister of Economic Development, Mélanie Joly, also announced assistance of $ 74 million, in addition to the $ 16 million already granted to the firm in the past, for a total of $ 90 million. .
“Why are we investing our money to support companies? Because at the end of the day, while there is a struggle between the different countries to attract the best jobs, we want to be part of the leading pack, ”she concluded.
–With the collaboration of Andrea Valeria, Philippe Langlois and Jean-François Cloutier
An $ 875 million biofuel plant
Enerkem’s $ 875 million biofuels plant in Varennes, Montérégie, will be built through partnerships with oil industry giants like Shell, Suncor and Proman.
“We learned a lot from our initial pilot project in Westbury, Quebec, and our first commercial demonstration plant in Edmonton, Alberta,” said Dominique Boies, CEO and CFO of Enerkem.
More than $ 60 million have been invested since August 2019 for the development of the Quebec project, site preparation and obtaining the required permits.
In Varennes, the Enerkem biofuels plant will use forest biomass residues and non-recyclable residual materials to produce biofuel and to generate renewable chemicals, such as methanol.
125 million liters
Each year, the plant will transform 200,000 tonnes of non-recyclable residual materials and residual forest biomass into 125 million liters of biofuels.
According to the company, this will help reduce greenhouse gases (GHGs) equivalent to the annual removal of nearly 50,000 vehicles from the road.
As for recurring annual economic spinoffs, they should reach $ 85 million for Quebec, says Enerkem.
In addition to the Shell oil company, which is the main investor in the project, Hydro-Québec will play a key role in supplying renewable hydrogen and oxygen.
Thus, the state-owned company will install an 88-megawatt $ 190 million electrolyser for the production of green hydrogen.
Enerkem
- Foundation: 2000
- Employees: 150
- Headquarters: Montreal
- Demonstration Plant: Edmonton
- Centre d’innovation : Westbury
Source Enerkem
–
