We’re putting the finishing touches on a busy week here at the Division of Economic Development, which started at the BIO International Convention in Boston on Monday and ended with a presentation in Sherbrooke, Que. on Wednesday and a visit with a manufacturer Thursday, who, by the way, likes our message … a lot.

About 80 people turned out for dinner and a talk about taxes … specifically the lack of thereof … just a short hop from northern New Hampshire. This is a place where there is room for Quebec companies to expand into the U.S. and a skilled and enthusiastic workforce to help them do it successfully.

This is not the first time we’ve done this. Every other year or so, with sponsorship from Public Service of New Hampshire, we visit places like Drummondville, Quebec City and Sherbrooke (this was our second visit) and talk about impôts to a country that knows them well.

That’s taxes. We talk to them about New Hampshire’s lack of them. When we got to the part about aucune taxe de vente, they couldn’t believe we don’t have a sales tax here. There was an audible gasp and buzz, like we were kidding.

We weren’t and we aren’t.

As Beno Lamontagne, our business resource specialist in Carroll, Grafton and Coos Counties, said Thursday night, dinner for 80 this week was the easy part.

Next week, next month, next year and maybe years from now, the possibilities we talked about the night before last will, like a seed, bloom, prosper and grow.

Lorna Colquhoun
Communications Director
Division of Economic Development