Last October, François Legault’s government announced an investment in Paris-based Flying Whales, which hopes to build massive dirigibles capable of carrying up to 60 tonnes of cargo over long distances. (Le Journal de Québec, The Canadian Press)

Talking point: Legault was forced to defend the whalish bet in the wake of Tuesday’s Investissement Québec (IQ) revamp, which will see the government investment arm increase its appetite for risk. “I think Quebecers must reconcile themselves to risk,” Legault said. It’s certainly a risky proposition: Flying Whales has no prototype, no paying customers and, at least according to one expert, technology that simply won’t fly. It’s also financed in part by a company with close ties to the Chinese government—which secured the same-sized chunk of the firm with three times less the investment. Opposition MNA Vincent Marissal said Pierre Fitzgibbon, economy and innovation minister, “needs to understand that IQ’s $5 billion isn’t his slush fund.”