Public Financial Institutions, Industrial Policies, and Quebec Capitalist Development, 1960-2018.

This thesis analyzes the role of public financial institutions and industrial policies in Quebec capitalist development between 1960 and 2018. This study is informed by a Marxist analysis articulating the transformations in public financial institutions and industrial policies to the systemic shifts in private finance and business organization during different phases of the uneven capitalist development in Quebec.

Quebec’s public financial institutions evolved in response to the weaknesses and “short-termism” of private finance. The dissertation argues these policy instruments became disciplined by market imperatives, enabled by class conflicts that made public financial institutions and industrial policies subservient to capitalist “catch-up” and internationalization. Documentary analysis tracks the main regulatory changes of these policies and institutions and the political struggles waged by business associations and unions over their goals.

Multiple firm-level cases reveal that Quebec’s public financial institutions shared features with “patient capital” at odds with financialization, but they still accommodated neoliberal corporate restructurings. This process is captured by the concept of “neoliberal loyalty”. While these institutions protected the province’s businesses from predatory rentiers, these firms still faced intensifying capitalist competition in the world market.

A case study of Bombardier analyzes if the company’s accumulation practices were consistent or in contradiction with Quebec’s industrial policies. Bombardier became involved in financial activities distinct from its core manufacturing operations, but it still remained predominantly an industrial conglomerate. The case study supports a conception of financialization intensifying financial discipline upon “real” production, and as compatible with the province’s neoliberal industrial policies.

In contrast to the institutionalists depicting the “Quebec model of development” as a policy regime divergent from neoliberalism, this thesis contributes to a literature locating Quebec’s economic policies, labour market trends, and overall policy regime as a variety of neoliberalism. A conclusion of this thesis is that public banking should not be considered as a ready-made “progressive” alternative to financialization. This conclusion challenges the assumptions of institutional perspectives on “patient capital”.