Groupe Le Massif covets a bite that culminates at more than 800 m: Mont Sainte-Anne. The group that owns the Massif de Charlevoix confirms the filing of a purchase offer to acquire the management rights to the mountain located 40 km from Quebec City, currently under the responsibility of Alberta Resorts of the Canadian Rockies (RCR).
The opening of a Club Med at the foot of its ski slopes, less than a year ago, did not satisfy the Le Massif Group’s appetite for expansion. The organization confirms having presented an offer to RCR, but refuses to reveal the amount or to indicate whether discussions are taking place between the two parties.
In a press release, the president of Groupe Le Massif and the financial firm HDG, Claude Choquette, indicates that the offer serves “the objective of opening the channel of communication between Daniel Gauthier”, co-founder of Cirque du Soleil and current owner of the Massif de Charlevoix, “and the owner of Mont Sainte-Anne”.
The press release specifies that Mr. Gauthier is working “on the next stages of the project”, launched when he acquired the Massif, 20 years ago. “Daniel Gauthier and I have analyzed the Mont Sainte-Anne file,” writes Mr. Choquette. We have observed that the respective attractiveness potential increases with a common marketing approach, provided that we have two mountains with today’s quality standards. »
avalanche of criticism
The management of Mont Sainte-Anne by RCR has been the subject of a host of criticism since the sudden breakage of the gondolas, which occurred in February 2020. The incident had injured around twenty skiers and raised the anger of mountain regulars, who have since denounced a chronic lack of investment on the part of RCR.
A non-profit organization, Les Amis du Mont Sainte-Anne, is pushing for Mont Sainte-Anne Station to once again become “a local pride”. The non-profit organization, chaired by the former CEO of Industrial Alliance, Yvon Charest, and co-chaired by cross-country skier and Olympic medalist Alex Harvey, claims 550 members. He presented, in the spring of 2021, a revitalization plan aimed at polishing the “jewel” that he considers the mountain, in addition to asking the public authorities to force RCR to take care of the ski area – or to sell it. to interests that have its development at heart.
Recently, two former ministers responsible for the Capitale-Nationale, Agnès Maltais and Sam Hamad, took up the pen to denounce in an open letter the “decline” of Mont Sainte-Anne, “a natural jewel with the potential to become a destination flagship air in eastern North America. »
“Unfortunately, this world-class mountain is in serious decline,” wrote the former ministers. Ms. Maltais and Mr. Hamad asked the government to use “all the levers at its disposal” to change the operator of the mountain. The letter, published on March 24, called for the issue to be resolved before the end of the spring parliamentary session. “This file – major for our region – is at a crossroads”, they warned then.
Action brought by Quebec
Less than a month later, on April 20, 2021, the Quebec government announced its intention to regain control of part of the mountain through the courts.
“The Government of Quebec is now starting legal proceedings aimed at temporarily regaining ownership of the land around the mountain that has not been acquired. These lands are used in particular for cross-country skiing, mountain biking and camping.
The government indicated that RCR had not respected the clauses of an agreement signed in 1998 and in which “MSA Station undertook to acquire the subsurface rights from SEPAQ, according to a 15-year completion schedule. »
Quebec privatized in 1994 the Mont Sainte-Anne, which belonged to the SEPAQ since 1985, in 1994. RCR which got its hands on the exploitation rights of the mountain after a call for proposals. Under the agreement concluded at the time, RCR has the right to operate the ski area for a period of 99 years and the peripheral lands for a period of 35 years.
A petition posted online by the Friends of Mont Sainte-Anne has collected more than 11,000 signatures since last year. “At the price I pay, I would like to have lifts that work,” wrote a signatory in the comments. Unlimited membership for an adult is $1818 for the next season.
The duty tried unsuccessfully to contact Resorts of the Canadian Rockies.