The Québec economic model is facing four profound structural changes that threaten its sustainability: the climate crisis, the transformation of wage labor, the financialization of the economy and the disaffection of traditional modes of political engagement. These crises are not specific to Quebec, they have been studied and commented on many times in the works of authors like Naomi Klein, Guy Standing, Sam Gindin, Christine Kerdellant and Jean-Claude Kaufmann. The goal of this research project is not to re-discuss these well-established observations, but of starting from them to advance.
The objective of the research project is to produce proposals for the renewal of the Quebec economic model based on “neo-statist” government intervention. This approach, which has been consolidating since the turn of the 21st century, is unique in that it has enabled different countries to develop a unique economic model despite the standardizing pressures of the globalized economy. Structuring interventions through finance and state-owned enterprises are well-known features. Inspired by these recent trends in the global economy and by revisiting Quebec economic thought-from Esdras Mainville to Jacques Parizeau to François-Albert Angers. Inspired by authors who wanted to develop a specific economic model in Quebec, it will focus not only on the role of the state, but also on the role of cooperatives, the social economy and regional economic development. The research will foreshadow public policies proposals inspired by the neo-statist approach, but rooted in the Quebec reality and making it possible to transcend the quadruple crisis that sustains its model of economic development.