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Fresh Takes

Rescue Operations for a Shaky Mining Company

Just back from the holidays, we learned that after having sunk $52 million of taxpayer funds into a company sheltered from its creditors, namely BlackRock Metals, Quebec’s CAQ government says it is ready to inject even more millions of public dollars to acquire a part of the company.

Let’s just mention in passing that BlackRock Metals is weighed down by $145 million of debt, a non-negligible fact nonetheless ignored by the government, which is making Quebecers’ money available to the company in an effort to keep it from collapsing. It’s up to private markets, though, not governments, to choose winners and losers.

The company has already unsuccessfully approached a panoply of potential investors, from institutional investors to large American fortunes. Given this clear lack of interest from the private sector, we respectfully invite the Minister of Economy, Mr. Fitzgibbon, not to squander the money of Quebec families on this ill-conceived interventionist impulse.

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