Investments of $1 billion per year in the Québec economy planned for the 2020s
Montréal, February 10, 2020 – Faced with the pressure of climate change, demographics and technological advances, our society will undergo a profound transformation. More than ever, organizations are be expected to become agents of change. Before members of the Canadian Club of Montréal, Gaétan Morin, President and CEO of Fonds de solidarité FTQ, explained the role the organization intends to play to help shape the Québec of 2030, which will occur through an increase of the impact of its investments.
“As investors, we have developed deep knowledge of Québec and supported more than 3,000 businesses of all sizes in all sectors and regions,” said Mr. Morin. “If we maintain our investment pace of the past few years, and with the help of the savings of our 700,000 shareholders, we plan to inject $1 billion per year into the Québec economy during the 2020s.”
“Of course, we will continue investing in businesses that need capital to carry out their projects. Further, we will increasingly seek to invest strategically to tease out concrete solutions to the challenges of climate change, demographics and technology faced by our society. We now have the expertise and size to expand our horizons and increase our impact,” he added.
Technology transition mentoring
“While a large part of our mission is to provide businesses with patient, unsecured capital, we would now like to give on-site mentoring to our partner companies and their workers to help them deal with the transitions that are taking shape,” continued Gaétan Morin.
For example, in the past year, the Fonds helped Groupe Meloche implement its vision of a 4.0 factory. Due to the labour shortage, the company had to find ways to continue filling orders for its clients in the aeronautical sector.
Groupe Meloche obtained financing from the Fonds to conduct a study aimed at identifying opportunities for automating its production chain, calculating the associated ROI and acquiring two robots to confirm the findings of the theoretical study.
The Fonds then took an inventory of best practices: it sought advice from three companies that had already implemented such projects. What to do, what not to do?
Lastly, the Fonds leveraged the expertise of its economic training centre to identify the potential fears of Meloche workers concerning automation and explain the company’s plan.
More than 130 workers benefited from this training. Results: greater acceptance of the change and increased mobilization around the company’s objectives.
“Buoyed by this success, we will offer this type of mentoring to several other businesses to help them succeed with their technology transition,” added Mr. Morin.
Energy transition mentoring
To stimulate the energy transition and seize the resulting business opportunities, the Fonds is directing investments toward businesses and projects dedicated to cleaner technologies and industrial processes, the manufacturing of more energy-efficient materials and equipment, and to sustainable transport of goods and people.
For instance, the Fonds invested in Cycle Capital and Spring Lane Capital, two specialized funds that help businesses develop and market clean technology.
In the agri-food sector, the Fonds invested in businesses that advance low-carbon production methods, and especially local production that reduces our dependence on imported vegetables, such as, Productions Horticoles Demers and Les Fermes Lufa.
The Fonds also helped partner companies analyze their activities to identify opportunities for improving energy efficiency.
At Produits de Forage MBI, a business based in Abitibi-Témiscamingue, the Fonds took a complete inventory of GHG sources, and helped the company implement a series of concrete measures to not only reduce GHG emissions, but also its energy consumption.
About Fonds de solidarité FTQ
Fonds de solidarité FTQ is a capital development fund that channels the savings of Quebecers into investments. With $16.7 billion in net assets as at November 30, 2019, the Fonds has helped create and protect more than 215,000 jobs. The Fonds has 3,100 partner companies and more than 700,000 shareholders-savers.
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