The Montreal skyline on March 25, 2020. Graham Hughes / The Canadian Press
Canadian and international companies continue to make record investments in the Montreal area this year, as the region pulls off the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, but a slowdown is expected in the coming months amid the outlook for recession. Quebec’s most radical language revision in nearly half a century could also scare some companies.
Non-Quebec companies invested $ 1.74 billion in Canada’s second-largest city in the first six months of 2022, launching a record 57 projects and creating some 4,700 jobs. , according to the latest figures from Montreal International, the city’s investment promotion. agency. Thirty-one companies established a subsidiary in Montreal for the first time.
Last year during the same period, corporations pledged $ 1.86 billion for 40 new projects. But Montreal International, a public-private partnership funded in part by the governments of Quebec and Canada, counts only the investments it facilitated, meaning absolute figures could be much higher.
The Montreal region, known for its substantial knowledge and research base, has especially caught the attention of global investors over the years for its experience in artificial intelligence (AI) and deep learning. Companies like the data analysis company McKinsey & Co. QuantumBlack and aerospace giant Thales SA are just two companies that have established AI operations in the city in recent years.
This year, health and life sciences companies also generated a significant share of investment activity, with 7 projects launched for a net worth of $ 321 million. This is an amount six months higher than last year. Moderna Inc.’s plan, announced in April, to build a vaccine manufacturing plant in the Montreal area is not yet included in the figures.
Silicon Valley-based Circle Medical Technologies is among the fastest growing companies in the Montreal region. The company, a specialist in virtual telemedicine, currently has 25 employees in the city with the intention of increasing this figure to 360 in the next three years. He has already made several hires in software engineering, product design and operations management, said George Favvas, a Montrealer who co-founded the company and now runs it as CEO.
Mr. Favvas said his leadership team initially thought Montreal would be just a support office at the company’s base in San Francisco. He now says that the city’s strong workforce and technological ecosystem have convinced him to build operations there along with its headquarters in the United States.
“We see that Montreal is almost a second headquarters or a satellite power plant,” he said. “There are a number of roles where we are open to the candidate working, either in Montreal or San Francisco, on equal terms.”
Growth underscores the diversity of Montreal’s economy, which has an unemployment rate lower than that of Toronto, Vancouver or Calgary of 4.8%. Government incentives and the organization’s own advocacy work also play an important role, said Stéphane Paquet, president and CEO of Montreal International.
Still, he says it could be hard to keep up the momentum.
“I think the investment will slow down,” Mr. Package. A recession could cause companies to withdraw their plans, he said. Quebec’s economy has about a 35 percent chance of a recession, Quebec Finance Minister Eric Girard said last month.
Persistent questions about Quebec’s new language law could also take into account business decision-making, Mr. Package.
The Quebec government passed Bill 96 in late May in an attempt to correct a linguistic pendulum that says it strays too far from the use and adoption of French in everyday life. The controversial new legislation includes measures to make French “markedly predominant” in commercial signage and obliges companies with 25 to 49 employees to comply with French-language certification obligations under the same strict standards that previously applied to French. companies with 50 to 99 employees.
Many business leaders in the province have expressed support for strengthening French, although they warn that new legislation could impose additional costs on companies and complicate their recruitment efforts at a time when Canada is facing a acute labor shortage. Top executives of 37 Quebec-based technology companies last month called for a freeze on law enforcement until the government of Prime Minister François Legault has established tutorials in French and other tools companies need to comply. .
Montreal International’s phones began ringing last year when companies began asking questions when the legislation was introduced, Paquet said. The group organized educational sessions led by the Fasken law firm after which fewer questions arose. Since the bill became law in late spring, consultations began again.
“We thought it was over, but obviously it’s not,” Mr. Package. The organization is now putting companies in direct contact with the Office québécois de la langue française (OQLF), which is the government agency responsible for enforcing Quebec’s French language charter.
One such briefing was held on July 13 between representatives of overseas-based companies and OQLF officials, Mr. Package. “What they tell me is that once they’ve talked to the OQLF, it’s much clearer and they’re calm.”
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