Quebec hotel giant Raymond Malenfant died at the age of 91 on Friday in Montreal, surrounded by his loved ones. During his life, the businessman whose wealth has already amounted to 400 million dollars will have lived opulence and setbacks of fortune.
Raymond Malenfant was named “hotelier of the year” in 1987. Until his bankruptcy in the 1990s, he was known in Quebec for his high profile showdown with the union in the mid-1980s.
At the height of his fame, Raymond Malenfant ran nine hotels, six office towers, convention halls and a ski center. He was notably the owner of the Manoir Richelieu in Charlevoix, the Hotel Fort Garry in Winnipeg and several hotels in the Universel suite, including one in Florida.
“He was a builder, my father, told Press his daughter Lyne Malenfant. He was building a first hotel, a second, a third. He built an empire, because he worked, worked, worked. And it was all the time to create jobs, not for money. ”
The 91-year-old man died at Sacré-Cœur hospital on Friday at the start of the afternoon, surrounded by his children. He was admitted to the hospital with kidney failure, then tested positive for COVID-19. He also had prostate cancer and suffered 17 heart attacks during his life. “It was a cat, my father,” said Lyne Malenfant, with a small smile in her voice. “He was a fighter. ”
From medicine to hotels
It was first of all medicine that fascinated the young Raymond Malenfant, originally from Saint-Hubert, near Rivière-du-Loup, in Bas-Saint-Laurent. Child between the wars, born October 6, 1930, in the midst of the Great Depression, he studied medicine for four years in Paris and Lille before losing interest in the subject. The young man then turned to the Canadian army, where he learned the basics of English.
It is finally in the field of construction and business that man has set his sights. “In 1965, he had his first hotel and my mother (Colette Perron) always supported him,” recalls Lyne Malenfant, who was born the same year. Thanks to a loan of $ 10,000 from a former army companion, the man acquired land on Chemin Sainte-Foy, in the suburbs of Quebec, where he built his first motel. Then, in 1966, he obtained a mortgage loan of $ 300,000. The twenty years that followed were auspicious for the Malenfant family.
“He listened to the radio and TV in his room, he watched, then at one point he created,” recalls Lyne Malenfant.
Union dispute at Manoir Richelieu
In 1986, Raymond Malenfant decided to acquire the Manoir Richelieu, in Charlevoix, to renovate it. “He thought it was a good idea, but it was so hard,” regrets Lyne Malenfant.
This acquisition puts Raymond Malenfant at the forefront of Quebec news, due to the clashes between him and the Confederation of National Trade Unions (CSN) for several years. The businessman, in fact, chooses not to rehire the unionized employees of the hotel after his purchase. In 1986, the conflict even left one dead, Gaston Harvey, in an altercation with the Sûreté du Québec.
“He won in the Superior Court, but in the end he lost everything,” said Lyne Malenfant.
Considered a model for the employers, Raymond Malenfant was named “Hotelier of the year” in 1987.
In 1990, the Malenfant Group acquired three establishments, requiring an investment of 40 million dollars, of which it had not found 10 million. Between government loans, municipal taxes, high interest rates, the tax system and the recession, Raymond Malenfant had to declare bankruptcy in 1992.
“It was very sad. This is where the heart attacks started. It was his life that he saw changing, says Lyne Malenfant, and he did not get over it. ”
The gene for happiness
In 2001, Raymond Malenfant suffered a serious head trauma after being hit by a car in Laval. For the past seven years he has lived with two of his children, his wife feeling too tired to be able to take care of him. “I had the chance to live 100% with him,” says Lyne Malenfant. He was my hero. ”
Then, this year, the businessman was reunited with his wife again when they both found themselves in the same seniors’ residence. “We had a miracle, because we found a place for them and they found themselves together. It was like that, ”describes Lyne Malenfant.
Despite his setback, Raymond Malenfant was a happy man: “He was not a man who spoke of the past. He was not bitter, remembers Lyne Malenfant. He was such a zen man, because he was in the present and in the future and he continued to be that way all his life. He would get up in a good mood, go to bed in a good mood. He had the gene for happiness. ”