The past year has been marked by the deployment of the pilot project for supporting the startup of for-profit non-profit organizations (NPOs) in the two territories covered by our regional office.
Funded by the Ministry of Economy, Innovation, and Energy, this project enables us to support project promoters in partnership with the Regional Social Economy Pole of Laval (PRÉSL) and the Social Economy Council of the Island of Montreal (CÉSÎM).
At the beginning of the fiscal year, we toured the Montreal and Laval entrepreneurial support ecosystem to present CDRQ’s renewed service offering and the new support for collective enterprises in the form of NPOs. We presented the legal structure and governance of a social economy enterprise during information sessions organized by PRESL.
This partnership tour has already borne fruit, as of March 31, 2023, where we individually met with representatives from 20 NPO projects to discuss their projects and evaluate their support needs. From these meetings, service agreements were signed with three projects, two in circular economy and the third in information technology.
A CDRQ advisor was assigned to each project to work with the groups on their business model, assist them in establishing their enterprise, help in drafting their general regulations, and in setting up their governance.
The assessment of the first year of the pilot project confirms that our new support offering has addressed real needs. The collaboration between CDRQ and the two social economy poles, in complementarity with the existing entrepreneurial ecosystem, has created a continuum of services for the benefit of promoter groups of for-profit NPO projects.
We are confident that the excellent collaboration between our regional office and the two poles will result in a significant increase in the number of projects that will be supported in the second year.
We were able to support 30 cooperatives and projects, including 8 newly established cooperatives. Our team completed 12 assignments in support of established cooperatives, not counting the 10 ongoing projects that will be able to start their operations in the coming fiscal years. Thus, our territory contributed to the creation of 36 new jobs and the maintenance of 186 others.
Our members benefited from a wide range of services offered by the CDRQ advisory team, which completed a variety of assignments related, among others, to capitalization, modification of statutes and regulations, development of marketing plans, and strategic planning. I take this opportunity to thank all my colleagues who contributed to the completion of these assignments, as well as my colleagues at the headquarters who support the operations and activities of our organization.
The past year saw the return of in-person activities. On October 18, 2022, we organized an inter-cooperation activity as part of the Cooperatives Week under the theme “Innovation and resilience to adapt to the challenges of the century.” The activity, held at the Montreal Metropolitan Co-op House, was successful as over 30 people from our members and partners attended the panel featuring three innovative cooperatives and participated in the networking activity that followed.
The year started with the remote holding of our territory’s regional assembly on June 2, with around fifteen members and partners present. We also held three meetings of the regional cooperative committee (CCR) where we welcomed two new members: Margot Pasquier from La Coop de solidarité 25e heure and Patrick Préville from the Quebec Federation of Cooperative Housing, who joined the existing members.
I take this opportunity to thank them all for their involvement. We changed our regional representative on the CDRQ’s board of directors during the fiscal year. Regarding this, I thank Jean Soublière, the outgoing representative, for his significant contribution since the transfer of activities to the CDRQ. Finally, I would like to welcome Pierre-Alain Cotnoir as the new regional representative, also a member of the CCR from the very beginning.
Nada Elkouri, Regional Director, Montreal / Laval
