Quebec Inc., French-Canadian Entrepreneurs and the New Business Elite

Robert W. Sexty is a commerce professor at the Memorial University of
Newfoundland and author of Canadian Business: Issues and Stakeholders.

Matthew Fraser, a Globe and Mail fine arts correspondent in Montreal, has written this book “to present a portrait gallery of personalities … of Quebec corporate elite.” He claims to have charted new territory by identifying the current elite and those missed by other writers such as Peter Newman. The book is based upon over 100 in-depth interviews of leading businesspersons, historians, and economists.

The material from the interviews was divided into an introduction and eleven chapters. The introduction is necessary reading, but fails to provide an adequate background for what follows. Chapter 1 describes the rise of the successful entrepreneur Bernard Lemaire, while chapter 2 summarizes business history from the time of New France to the Quiet Revolution including mention of many business dynasties. The remaining chapters cover an array of topics: a description of the entrepreneurs and dynasties of the Beauce region; Anglo capitalism in relation to Québécois nationalism; financial institutions; profiles of several entrepreneurs; three Quebec enterprises that have grown large (“Les Gros Canons”); a history of Provigo, the food and retail chain; the media owners; and a description of Paul Desmarais’s fights with the establishment. A concluding chapter is entitled “Maitres Chez Eux” and concludes that the business elite will shape the future of Quebec, and that “Quebec’s relationship with the rest of Canada will … be determined by the French-Canadian business elite’s relationship with the Anglo-Canadian business elite” (p. 266).

The book’s chapter organization is not cohesive and lacks a rationale. Although the book is easy to read and provides interesting profiles of the elite, the thesis is shallow and not adequately supported.