The Ghislain Dufour Business Forum concluded its activities for the year 2024 on Thursday, December 19th, by receiving the Minister of Economy, Innovation and Energy, Minister Responsible for Regional Economic Development, Minister Responsible for the Metropolis and the Montréal Region, and Member of the National Assembly of Quebec for Sanguinet, Christine Fréchette. Around a hundred members and guests of the Forum were eagerly awaiting Ms. Fréchette's presentation, given the multiplicity and importance of the roles entrusted to her by Premier Legault within the Quebec government.
Introduced by Yannick Simard, Consultant in the Organizations and Stakeholders group at the Montreal office of the NATIONAL Public Relations firm, Minister Fréchette first reiterated that even though Quebec is well-endowed with energy resources, the enormous current demand forces us to make choices and prioritize energy projects likely to ensure Quebec's long-term development. Indeed, over the past few years, we have experienced a paradigm shift that makes economic development dependent on energy development and vice versa.
In this regard, Ms. Fréchette of course mentioned the recent agreement between Quebec and Newfoundland and Labrador on electricity supply and the development of new power plants. An agreement that will benefit not only the two provinces but also the First Nations. She also recalled that between 2018 and 2023, the purchasing power of Quebecers grew by 6% compared to 2.2% for our neighbors in Ontario. The projected economic growth is 1.2%, which will allow, according to the Minister, to continue reducing the wealth gap compared to Ontario. The development of the battery sector remains very active—not just with big players—as the government is also discussing various projects with around a hundred SMEs spread across several regions of Quebec.
Sustainable productivity is certainly a major issue in Minister Fréchette's view. That is why the government plans to invest $4.5 billion over the next three years to encourage companies to commit to sustainability by transforming their ways of doing things.
Finally, the arrival of the Trump administration is also among the government's concerns, which continues to exert pressure on the federal administration to take significant measures to ensure relations remain as harmonious as possible. Quebec is also working on this through several scenarios currently being developed.
At the end of her presentation, Minister Fréchette graciously took part in a question and answer period with Forum members, moderated by Julien Provencher-Proulx, Director, Public Affairs and Corporate Communications. It was Mirabel Paquette, Partner and Senior Vice-President at NATIONAL, who thanked the Minister on behalf of the Forum members and set the date for the launch of the 2025 activities.
From left: Julien Provencher-Proulx, Director, Public Affairs and Corporate Communications at NATIONAL Public Relations; Minister Christin Fréchette; Yannick Simard, Consultant, Organizations and Stakeholders; and Mirabel Paquette, Partner and Senior Vice-President, Corporate Communications at NATIONAL and Coordinator of the Ghislain Dufour Business Forum.
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.
