The announcement of a purchase offer from Groupe Le Massif for Mont-Sainte-Anne “is good news” for the region since it is high time to “give a boost” to this file. which has been stretching for several years.
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The former minister responsible for the Capitale-Nationale Agnès Maltais is delighted to see “a good operator” like the Goupe Le Massif trying to acquire Mont-Sainte-Anne.
Ms. Maltais and Sam Hamad, another former minister responsible for the Capitale-Nationale, had signed an open letter last March asking the government to regain control of the mountain, owned by the company Resorts of the Canadian Rockies (RCR).
“We no longer have confidence in the current operator. We want people from the region who understand the situation. The current owner does not correspond to the wishes of what we had expressed as an opinion. That has to change,” Ms. Maltais asked again on Tuesday during a telephone interview with The newspaper.
According to her, the Le Massif Group meets the three criteria necessary to ensure the sustainability of the premises since it offers “investments”, that it is considered to be “a good operator” and that it is “people of the region “.
“economic engine”
In Beaupré, the announcement of this purchase offer is seen as “good news” by the mayor of the municipality, Pierre Renaud, who recalls that “the economic vitality of Mont-Sainte-Anne has a positive impact” for local people.
“Mont-Sainte-Anne is our economic engine, it’s kind of our economic lung. If we refresh it and give it a little bit of love, it’s sure that in terms of businesses and direct economic spinoffs, it’s going to be important,” he said, adding that a “coup helm” was more than necessary.
Beware of nice words
Agnès Maltais is now asking the Minister of the Economy Pierre Fitzgibbon to study “seriously and advantageously this offer”.
“The Minister of the Economy must not believe in the fine words of the current operator. If the current owner wants to take over, they have to put money on the table. […] We think he never will,” she said.
For his part, Mr Fitzgibbon said he was “disappointed that he hasn’t had any investments for a very long time”.
“The role of government is not to mediate [sic] who will own Mont-Sainte-Anne. The government’s role is, if there is someone who wants to invest in the mountains, I think we have to be there. We did it in Orford, we did it in Bromont, we did it at Le Massif, we did it everywhere. »
The Mont-Sainte-Anne Station Employees’ Union declined to comment.
-With Nicolas Lachance