Dozens of contracts in English at Investissement Québec

Investissement Québec (IQ) concludes dozens of contracts in English each year to provide financing to companies based in Quebec.

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In a response to a request for access to information made by The newspaperIQ said it was unable to quantify the number of financing contracts it signs each year, and even less the number of contracts written in English.

“Investissement Québec does not have any document which provides the number of contracts relating to its financial interventions nor any system allowing them to be counted,” maintained the state corporation.

“A close estimate would be the number of financial interventions granted” each year, she continued.

• Listen to Rémi Villemure’s commentary on Richard Martineau’s microphone via QUB :

Since 2019, IQ has made between 2000 and 4900 “interventions” per year to help businesses. So how many of them were contracted in English?

Faced with the insistence of Newspaperthe institution ended up giving an order of magnitude.

“Around 2% of contracts”

“The contracts written in English by Investissement Québec are marginal and represent approximately 2% of the financing contracts concluded by Investissement Québec,” indicated an IQ spokesperson, Isabelle Fontaine.

“They will be systematically translated into French,” argued M.^me Fountain. […] This is essentially when the funding request involves partners outside Quebec.”

It is impossible, however, to know with which companies IQ has concluded contracts in English.

“Incomprehensible”

“It’s incomprehensible and unacceptable,” reacted Marie-Anne Alepin, president of the Saint-Jean-Baptiste Society.

“In Quebec, we know, it’s in French that things happen,” she added. In my opinion, it is not normal for a Quebec state corporation to send official correspondence in English or make contracts in English. […] This goes against the messages sent by the Legault government. It’s not trivial.”

Remember that Law 96, which strengthens the Charter of the French Language, came into force in 2022. It provides in particular that the State must demonstrate “exemplarity” in the use of French.

“We take our duty to set an example in terms of the French language very seriously,” assured Isabelle Fontaine. Let me be clear, all contracts concluded with Quebec companies are drawn up in French.”

The IQ spokesperson clarified that “the contracts with Northvolt – and all related documents – were concluded in French, exclusively”.

Remember that the financial assistance granted to the Swedish battery manufacturer, which could reach $2.9 billion, is the largest in the history of Quebec.

Precedence of English

When IQ concludes a contract in English, this language generally takes precedence over French.

This principle is written in black and white in a contract concluded in October as part of the sale of the Quebec company H2O Innovation to the American group Ember, to the Caisse de dépôt et placement and to IQ.

“This agreement has been drawn up in English and translated into French. The parties have signed the English and French versions of this agreement and irrevocably accept that the English version prevails over the French version in the event of a discrepancy between the two versions,” we can read in the documents signed by IQ and the Caisse.