Michel Leblanc, CEO of the Chamber of Commerce of Metropolitan Montreal (CCMM), began his 15the year as CEO of the organization that defends the interests of the business community. He is able to measure the progress made and appreciate the transformations experienced by the Montreal economic environment which, according to him, has gained in confidence despite the emergence of new issues.
15 years ago, in January 2009, we were in the middle of the international financial crisis which hit many Montreal businesses hard and undermined economic activity.
The unemployment rate was more than 11% and the metropolitan region was mired in a series of crises: the choice of locations for the CHUM and CUSUM, the reconfiguration of the Turcot interchange, the construction of the new Champlain Bridge, etc.
It is in this context that Michel Leblanc begins his mandate as CEO of the CCMM. An economist by training, he was a consultant at Secor before taking charge of In Vivo, the life sciences cluster, the first industrial cluster to be established in Montreal.
“My role during the financial crisis was to articulate the needs and concerns of the Montreal business community, to synthesize them well and to express them well,” recalls Michel Leblanc, who had a certain mastery of economic issues since he had prepared the CCMM’s three-year strategic plan in 2002, as a consultant to Secor.
A photo on the wall of his office illustrates the city of Montreal seen from the South Shore, taken 10 years ago. The Canadiens towers are absent, as are the residential towers of Griffintown, while the new National Bank tower or that of 700 Saint-Jacques were not even designed.
15 years ago, there were no cranes in Montreal, it was dead. The most important variable of the last 15 years is trust. We learned to have confidence and to be able not to slow down our momentum even when there are clouds on the horizon, we managed to emerge from the 2009 crisis just as we managed to emerge from the pandemic.
Michel Leblanc
Montreal has therefore followed a very positive trajectory over the last 15 years, including a strong recovery in real estate activity in the city center. But new, very worrying issues have emerged and will require strong and concerted action, underlines the CEO of the CCMM.
“Mobility and transportation in Montreal are very problematic and security has become an extremely worrying issue. People are starting to fear going near certain metro stations, homelessness and the opioid crisis are taking a significant toll,” notes Michel Leblanc with certain desolation.
A leap into politics?
20 years ago, a city like Seattle was an example of urban development, says the president of the Chamber of Commerce, while today, we are going to Seattle to understand how a city center can become deconstructed. This is what Montreal must avoid doing, according to him. We must avoid weakening the trust we have managed to build.
The government of Quebec must provide more social support to Montreal, it must invest more in sanitation, cleanliness and social housing, he believes, while the city risks finding itself in a precarious financial situation due to the deterioration of the land value of office towers.
“The vacancy rate of the towers is too high, there is a risk that the value of the assets will be reduced, which will reduce tax revenues,” indicates Michel Leblanc.
If he wanted to meet me to take stock of his 15 years as president of the Chamber of Commerce of Metropolitan Montreal, is it because he has reached a crossroads and wants to get even more actively involved in the future of the Quebec metropolis?
There are a lot of business people who ask me if I’m going to run for mayor of Montreal. I tell them that I’m thinking about it, just as I could also get involved in provincial or federal politics. There are big challenges. After 15 years, it’s normal to take a moment to reflect. One thing is certain, I will make a decision in the next year.
Michel Leblanc
Last March, a poll carried out for the Projet Montréal party put the name of Michel Leblanc as a potential candidate for mayor of Montreal, just as those of Sophie Brochu and Mélanie Joly were tested.
“What interests me is Montreal, long before politics. As an economist, I have always wondered how to reactivate a metropolis that is in relative decline. Montreal is doing well as an entity, but it is its city center that is becoming worrying,” he observes.
Since the end of the pandemic, Michel Leblanc has actively campaigned for companies to bring their teams back to the office, but he notes that many of them are reluctant to require an increased presence of their workforce even if it affects their productivity.
“It’s also somewhat understandable. Why ask your employees to come to the office if it is difficult to access due to flow problems and if they feel like they are not safe when they come downtown? », laments the CEO of the Chamber of Commerce of Metropolitan Montreal, who, at 61, is ready for new challenges.