The Minister of the Economy, Pierre Fitzgibbon, authorized through his discretionary power 68 million dollars of loans to ten companies based on a management guide which does not contain any selection criteria.
Mr. Fitzgibbon for the first time on Friday lifted part of the veil that hangs over these decisions, taken between March 2020 and March 2021, which earned him criticism last week in a report by auditor Guylaine Leclerc.
Ms. Leclerc explained that Mr. Fitzgibbon had availed himself of the provisions of an internal management guide for a business assistance program set up for the pandemic providing that he can “adjust the terms and authorize loans according to the needs of the files ”.
In a press briefing at the National Assembly, Mr. Fitzgibbon was questioned about the criteria that allowed these companies to receive funding.
“The guide has no selection criteria, the selection is the judgment of individuals,” he said in a press briefing at the National Assembly.
The guide in the head
Even if they did not meet the criteria of the Temporary Concerted Action Program for Enterprises (PACTE), the ten loans identified by Ms. Leclerc were granted because of analyzes by Investissement Québec (IQ), agent of the program of aid, considered them a strategic role for the Quebec economy.
Thursday, Mr. Fitzgibbon had already admitted that he relied on an “elastic” definition of the word “strategic”. Pressed by the opposition to make his management guide public, the minister also replied that “the guide in question is in the minds of all the“ executives ”of Investissement Quebec”.
Mr. Fitzgibbon said Friday that IQ employees were responsible for analyzing the situation of companies asking for PACTE help because of the economic crisis caused by the pandemic.
“The people from Investissement Quebec who spoke to companies had to determine whether the company in question was operating in Quebec, if it had had liquidity difficulties because of the pandemic and if it could become profitable,” he said. That is strategic. “
The Minister explained that it was impossible to have a single framework to respond to requests given the speed with which the PACTE was put in place, at the very beginning of the pandemic.
In her report, Ms. Leclerc noted problematic cases among the loans granted thanks to the personal authorization of the Minister. Funding was granted in several cases despite the lack of past profitability, profitability forecast or link to the pandemic.
A beneficiary company, in financial difficulty since 2019, notably received a loan thanks to Mr. Fitzgibbon even if its request was not linked to the pandemic. She then placed herself under the protection of the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act.
In the House on Friday, the government blocked a Quebec solidaire motion calling for the publication of the PACTE internal management guide.
More details will follow