The personalized health innovation zone, led by a former candidate of the Coalition Avenir Québec, will not see the light of day in eastern Montreal.
According to information from our Investigation Office, project manager Hugues Beaulieu made the announcement to several of his colleagues this week. The Ministry of Economy, Innovation and Energy would likely not have been convinced by the project planned in eastern Montreal.
Our Bureau of Investigation revealed last June that Pierre Fitzgibbon’s ministry had paid $200,000 to the Montreal Heart Institute (ICM) so that it could hire Mr. Beaulieu, one of his former office employees. The latter had also worn the colors of the CAQ twice, in the 2012 and 2014 elections.
The leader of the Coalition Avenir Québec François Legault and his candidate Hugues Beaulieu, during the 2014 electoral campaign.
Twitter account of François Legault
No competition
The person close to the CAQ had been selected as project manager without the position being posted. “We can wonder if another candidate would have had better skills,” asked a governance expert consulted by our Bureau of Investigation.
Even if the name “innovation zone” is now out of reach, certain partnership agreements concluded in the wake of the project could remain, again according to our sources.
Before the arrival of Mr. Beaulieu as project manager, it was Christine Fréchette, today CAQ Minister of Immigration, who had occupied this same role. She withdrew when applying for François Legault’s training in 2022.
In addition to the ICM, the Angus Development Corporation and the CIUSSS de l’Est-de-l’Île-de-Montréal were partners in the project.
What was the personalized health innovation zone project?
- Aimed to accelerate the development of Quebec’s biotechnology and health technology industry;
- Located in the east of Montreal, particularly in the Rosemont and Hochelaga-Maisonneuve districts;
- Innovation zones are an initiative by the Legault government to bring together companies, talents and investments from the same technological sector in the same territory.
Innovation zones already confirmed by Quebec
- DistriQ – Sherbrooke – Quantum technology
- Technum Québec – Bromont – Intelligent electronic systems
- Energy transition valley – Mauricie – Batteries and decarbonization