Therrien is a Trifluvien who went on to play some minor league ball before becoming an immigration lawyer in Vancouver, specializing in helping wealthy Chinese move to Canada.
Therrien suggests that the $500 million required to build a new baseball stadium in Montreal could be raised from spurned immigration applicants.
About 1,750 of the 5,000 outsiders seeking to move to Quebec under the investor program are accepted each year.
Therrien proposes that 620 of those rejected applicants be accepted in the country on the condition that they agree to pay $275,000.
That program would last three years and all of the funds would be earmarked to build the new Montreal baseball stadium.
Therrien, speaking on the Derek Aucoin radio show Tuesday, noted that some like the concept but say that the proceeds should instead go to some other cause, such as building a new bridge or hospital.
Therrien deals with this suggestion by noting that, unlike those infrastructure projects, a baseball team injects money into the economy.
So if, for example, the payroll is $100 million taxed at 45 percent, the return on the salaries alone would be $45 million. Concessions, tourism, other sales taxes would also provide the government with income.
Under the investor program, a candidate can bring his family to Canada and become a landed immigrant if he provides a $800,000 cheque to the government, which they return after five years without interest. The government, if they earn say five percent from that cash, will benefit to the tune of $200,000 per head.
The Harper government expressed some misgiving about the program, which is popular in Quebec but not elsewhere in the country.