On Tuesday 16 April, the Ghislain Dufour Business Forum welcomed Kim Thomassin, Executive Vice-President and Head of Québec at the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (CDPQ).
Introduced by Martin Daraiche, President of NATIONAL and Managing Partner of the firm's Montreal office, Ms Thomassin briefly recalled the CDPQ's dual mission: to invest to ensure Quebec's economic prosperity while generating returns to ensure its citizens' retirement. This explains why the institution pursues a long-term return objective.
With $434.2 billion in net assets at 31 December 2023, the Caisse is a truly global investment group. It also ranks first in the world for sustainable financing according to the World Benchmarking Alliance, and recently announced that 80% of its assets are low-carbon. The CPDQ is now present in some 70 countries, with ten offices around the world.
Ms Thomassin wanted to highlight the role and importance of the Caisse in the Quebec economy, as the CPDQ remains the most active institutional investor in its local economy worldwide. Investments in this area now total 88 billion dollars, thanks to projects such as the REM and the maritime sector, which contribute to the decarbonisation of the economy. And it's not over yet! Investment in the Quebec economy is expected to reach $100 billion in the not-too-distant future.
The CDPQ aims to help businesses in three ways: to generate sustainable growth, to gain access to cutting-edge technologies, and to achieve global reach. On this last point, our guest reminded us that the Caisse is more than just capital. With 5,000 companies in its portfolio, the institution can open doors all over the world to help create global champions such as CGI, whose growth the CPDQ has supported for 30 years, and WSP, which has now become one of the giants of advanced engineering. She also recalled the major plan deployed to invest in Quebec's high-performance medium-sized businesses in order to help them grow.
Ms. Thomassin's remarks were received with great interest by the many participants who had accepted the invitation from Mirabel Paquette, Coordinator of the Ghislain Dufour Business Forum and Senior Vice-President, Corporate Communications at NATIONAL.
From left to right: Andrew Molson, Chairman of the Board of AVENIR GLOBAL, Valérie Beauregard, Executive Vice-President of AVENIR GLOBAL, our guest Kim Thomassin, Executive Vice-President and Head of Québec at the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec, Mirabel Paquette, Senior Vice-President, Corporate Communications at NATIONAL and Coordinator of the Ghislain Dufour Forum, and Martin Daraiche, President of NATIONAL and Managing Partner of the firm's Montreal office.
About Forum Ghislain Dufour du monde des affairesR
The Ghislain Dufour Business Forum allows business people to meet and engage in dialogue with Quebec and Canadian political and business figures, political advisors or high-level public administrators on an apolitical and non-partisan basis. For more information, visit the event page.
