The setbacks of two failed entrepreneurs pile up. After the announcement of the sale of their mega-beverage manufacturing plant in Terrebonne, we learned that one of their companies owes $25 million to Revenu Québec, which the company denies.
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Tristan Bourgeois-Cousineau and Joannie Couture, who own a vast network of businesses, were ordered, on February 8, to pay $25,184,413.96 to the Quebec Revenue Agency for 9372-2858 Quebec inc.
This company operates a range of brands such as the Triani Group, Triani wines, Triani beverages, the Oshlag brewery, Thirsty beverages, Octane beverages and Mojo beverages, indicates the judgment obtained by The newspaper.
“No judge has taken note of the substantive arguments leading to this contribution,” declared Joannie Couture to Newspaper, Wednesday, by email. The businesswoman is, she said, “in discussions with Revenu Québec in order to provide them with all the necessary information allowing them to have full knowledge of the file.”
“No judge has found us guilty of actually owing these sums,” she insists.
It is in the Triani factory, in Terrebonne, that the majority of Tristan and Joannie’s products are brewed. They are also being sued by the City of Terrebonne, because the factory has been illegally polluting for almost three years.
Photo Agence QMI, Mario Beauregard
The notice of assessment was sent to the two controversial figures on January 3. It arises from an infraction of the Quebec Sales Tax Act (QST).
“To go up to $25 million, they did not start accumulating a tax debt yesterday,” asserts Pierre-Hugo Houle, owner of Brasserie Générale.
The brewer is irritated to see Tristan and Joannie accumulating debts while another of their companies, Transbroue, owes him $131,922.
Transbroue was the distributor of most microbreweries in Quebec. Since its purchase by the duo in 2022, business has declined to the point that the company filed a notice of intent with the Office of the Superintendent of Bankruptcy on December 7.
Transbroue’s debts are $30 million, including $9 million to small players such as the microbreweries À l’abri de la Tempête, Bièrerie Shelton, Brasserie Espace Public, La Chouape, Microbrasserie 4 Origines and l’Alchimiste.
All these small local brewers are in the hole of at least $100,000 due to the actions – or non-actions – of Transbroue, which allegedly stopped paying them around December. The meeting of Transbroue’s creditors will take place on February 29, but everything indicates that apart from the banks and the tax authorities, no one will receive any money.
“They were negotiating bankruptcy with us, but they knew that Revenu Québec was waiting for them around the corner,” protests Pierre-Hugo Houle.
The boss of the Brasserie Générale feels that he has “been fooled” by “two sharks” who “don’t care about the small players to whom they do terrible harm”.
How will Tristan and Joannie repay the astronomical sum to the tax authorities, and above all, how did they accumulate so much QST arrears without getting caught first?
Many hypotheses are circulating, some more outlandish than others. Tristan and Joannie have a knack for being talked about for the wrong reasons, to say the least.