Renewable generation project to keep Quebec town alive

QUEBEC CITY - Quebec offered a depressed mining town the lifeline of a windmill project, a call center and money for eco-tourism on Wednesday, and told its 1,000 residents to abandon plans to shut the community down.

Residents of Murdochville, some 600 km (375 miles) east of Quebec City, voted last year to abandon their town, which lost 300 jobs when mining company Noranda Inc. ((NRD.TO)) ((NRD.N)) shuttered its copper operations there.

The previous Parti Quebecois government offered the town a C$17.5 million ($12.6 million) aid package, but it refused to compensate residents who wanted to leave.

The new Liberal government, elected earlier this year, said on Wednesday that the package still stood, but local residents will have to pitch to make the town attractive, especially for tourists looking to visit the sparsely settled, windswept Gaspe region on the Gulf of St. Lawrence.

"We have opted to relaunch the town and that demands input from the local people," said Quebec's Minister of Economic and Regional Development, Michel Audet. "We cannot bring in investors only for the locals to tell them that residents want the town shut down."

Murdochville Mayor Marc Minville said he was disappointed at the ruling, but accepted the province's decision. "It's the will of the government, so we have no choice," he said.

Quebec said the windmill project, which envisions building two windmill parks generating 108 megawatts of power atop two local hills, will create about 100 jobs over the next two years.

Partners in the power project include the firm 3Ci, Crest Street Asset Management and Toronto-based Northland Power Inc., according to government documents.

The province will also set up a new call center for the provincial automobile insurance agency, creating another 55 jobs.

The Liberals also said Ottawa will double its previously announced contribution of C$1 million to go to a fund aimed at underpinning and restructuring the town's economy.