QUEBEC CITY — Quebec’s premier has floated the idea of a boycott after Sico’s parent company announced it would move the paint manufacturer’s Quebec operations to Ontario. Sico’s Quebec City plant and Montreal-area distribution centre will both close their doors next September, axing 125 jobs.
In 2013 U.S paint supplier PPG Industries took over Sico, which was founded in Quebec in 1937 and acquired by a Dutch conglomerate in 2006. “These decisions, while difficult, are necessary to remain competitive in the market,” read a PPG statement, but the company pledged to maintain “a strong presence in Quebec and in Canada.”
Newly sworn-in Premier François Legault, a former Sico director, was on a trade mission in Boston when the news broke. He questioned “whether Quebecers should continue to buy from Sico” after the move to Ontario. While he would urge PPG to reconsider, he said, the final decision is theirs. Legault’s Coalition Avenir Québec ran on a platform which included working with Investissement Québec to keep head offices in the province, which has taken a hit to its commercial pride from the acquisitions of RONA, Bombardier and restaurant chain Saint-Hubert.
