Mainers explore Quebec business opportunities

ST.GEORGES, Quebec – As Mainers find jobs becoming more scarce and their children moving out of state for better economic prospects, some state business leaders and economic developers are looking to a growing region north of the border for possible business opportunities.

Roughly 15 Mainers, including Gov. John Baldacci and other state officials, are visiting Quebec this week trying to establish business contacts in Quebec, particularly in the Chaudiere River Valley, which runs from Armstrong (near the American-Canadian border) north to the St. Lawrence River and Quebec City.

Members of the economic mission, which was organized by Maine International Trade Center in Bangor, met Thursday morning in St. Georges, a town of roughly 29,000 people 25 miles north of the border. St. Georges connects with the United States via Route 173, which becomes Route 201 as it enters Maine.

The group toured Garaga, a local garage-door manufacturing company with about 175 employees, and, after having lunch with about 50 business leaders from the region, they visited CIMIC, a vocational school and technology research center.

Members of the economic mission said Thursday that the primary reason for coming to Quebec is to meet their counterparts north of the border and, they hope, to establish some business relationships. They also said the trip is a good way to meet their fellow business leaders from Maine.

“We already know the markets. We already know international trade law,” said Jonathan Daniels, president and CEO of Bangor-based Eastern Maine Development Corp. In Maine, business leaders often are too busy to get to know each other, but, when traveling together, they have the time to do so and can exchange ideas, he said.

Donald Tessier, a licensed customs broker for cargo company Deringer, which has several offices in Maine, said face-to-face contact on such trips is key.

“It’s a network situation,” Tessier said. “I’ve met people from Maine I haven’t met before, which is valuable.”

Aside from making contacts, the Maine contingent also learned that the southern Quebec economy is growing in ways Maine’s economy is not. During their lunch Thursday in St. Georges, they were told by local officials that the number of manufacturing jobs in the region has grown from 35,000 in 1989 to more than 50,000 in 2001. That’s an increase of 45 percent.

Martin Rancourt, president of St. Georges marketing firm Image de Mark Inc., said Thursday that growth in the area has spurred interest in Quebec in expanding businesses into Maine. This interest was magnified by the relatively weak value of American currency, he said.

“Now the U.S. dollar is getting stronger, so there are more problems” with such expansion, Rancourt said.