This paper proposes a preliminary hypothesis aimed at interpreting recent transformations in the location of industrial activities within the region surrounding Québec City. A number of studies tend to suggest that the cost of labour has become a key factor of industrial location. At the same time, it is possible to observe a relative growth of manufacturing activities in peripheral rural areas and a relative decline in older industrial cores. The conjunction of these two tendencies leads to the following working hypothesis in the case of the Québec Region: manufacturing activities are growing in the areas where workers are willing to accept lower wages, that is in the counties located on the South Shore of the St. Lawrence.