LAVAL - Over the last few decades, Montrealers have become used to companies moving west along the 401 to Toronto, but on Tuesday, Canada's largest publicly traded drug company announced it would be moving from Mississauga to Laval.
Multinational pharmaceutical company Valeant will be moving to new offices in Laval, creating 50 new jobs and maintaining another 300 already in place.
"We just found the environment, the people, the talent that is here in Quebec in terms of life sciences and pharmaceuticals to be a terrific place, because we intend to grow our company and I think there is a stronger base of talent here than is in Toronto," said company president Michael Pearson.
Valeant will build a new research & development centre to help develop new dermatology products for markets throughout the world.
The Quebec government is providing the company with $6 million to assist in the relocation effort: $3.5 million is a flat-out contribution, while $2.5 million is an interest-free loan.
The government support helped tip the balance in favour of Laval, said Pearson.
"Without that, we wouldn't be here. We had over 400 employees in Ontario and to move that many people over to Quebec is a significant move," he said.
Premier Jean Charest was on hand for the announcement Tuesday. When asked about recent job losses in the province, the premier said the overall trend in Quebec's economy has been positive.
"In 2011, we saw the creation of more than 38,000 jobs in Quebec, a better performance than 2010, and the last numbers are positive. The last two months have been positive," he said.
That said, $6 million in taxpayers' dollars will be spent on Valeant, said Norma Kozhaya, chief economist at the Quebec Employers Council.
"It's always a challenge when you use public funds to make sure that it is profitable… and it is directed to promising companies with a good prospective of job creation and innovation in general," said Kozhaya.
Valeant plans to start hiring by the end of the year.
