Terrebonne, April 30, 2018 – The Les Moulins regional county municipality (RCM) and its collaborators Fonds locaux de solidarité FTQ, Fédération québécoise des municipalités (FQM) and CLDEM are proud to announce the creation of a $1-million Fonds local de solidarité (FLS) to support businesses on the Les Moulins territory.
The FLS will provide business owners with additional financial leverage to better support them with their start-up, acquisition and expansion projects in the Les Moulins RCM. Besides encouraging entrepreneurship, the FLS will help create and maintain lasting, quality jobs in the RCM.
The creation of the FLS was made possible by a $750,000 variable investment credit from the Fonds locaux de solidarité FTQ Limited Partnership, a $100,000 contribution from the FQM, $116,000 from the Les Moulins RCM, and $34,000 from the CLDEM.
“On behalf of the board of the Les Moulins RCM, I would like to thank the Fonds locaux de solidarité FTQ, the FQM and the CLDEM for forming this important partnership, without which the Fonds local de solidarité could not have been created. This new fund shows that the RCM and its partners are aware of the strong growth potential of our local businesses. It will therefore make financing more readily available to them and in so doing, help drive our local economy,” said Guillaume Tremblay, reeve of the Les Moulins RCM and mayor of Mascouche.
“The CLDEM welcomes this initiative and commends the RCM, the FQM and the Fonds locaux de solidarité FTQ for creating this new fund. When combined with the Fonds local d’investissement (FLI), businesses can tap into as much as $200,000 of funding. This announcement therefore increases our ability to locally support business projects. Also, since the Fonds local de solidarité will be managed jointly with the FLI, business owners will only need to submit one application,” explained CLDEM president Renée Chartier.
“The FQM and the Fonds de solidarité have been working together for almost 25 years and is the reason the local solidarity funds exist. Our contribution was made possible by the $3.5 million allocated by the Québec government for the deployment of the FLS network in regions unserved until now,” said Louis-Charles Thouin, reeve of the Montcalm RCM and FQM Board member.
“The result of a partnership between the Fonds de solidarité FTQ and the Fédération québécoise des municipalités, the Fonds locaux de solidarité network is a proven local economic development model. Entrepreneurs in the Les Moulins RCM with bold and ambitious start-up or growth projects can now obtain financing from the FLS, which has funded 4,416 projects since its inception 25 years ago,” added Éric Desaulniers, general manager of the Fonds locaux de solidarité FTQ.
Through its leverage effect, the FLS will complete the financing of business projects on the territory by allowing entrepreneurs to access other sources such as conventional loans from a financial institution, subsidies, capital outlays or other seed capital. The maximum amount available from the FLS is $100,000.
The Les Moulins RCM is entrusting the management of the FLS to the CLDEM, which will be respnsible for analyzing applications, making loan recommendations, monitoring the financing files and advising business owners. Businesses interested in the FLS can communicate with the CLDEM at 450 477-6464 or info@cldem.com.
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