Vice Presidents at Investment Quebec | 1.4 million family with eight exits

The reorganization of Investment Quebec (IQ) and the coming to power of Guy LeBlanc in 2019 led to a purge of the Crown corporation’s senior management, costing a 1.4 million severance payment and the departure of eight vice-presidents.

Julien Arsenault
Press

This portrait was painted by the Finance Department of the Government of Quebec in recent response to the request made below Law relating to access to documents held by public bodies and protection of personal information.

Departures are staggered between 2019 and 2022.

“All of these changes occurred as we changed IQ’s mandate from the top down,” explained Gladys Caron, a spokeswoman for the organization. There are voluntary exits. The posts have also been cancelled. »

Many of these changes are in addition to compensation reform that allowed public corporation employees to receive more generous annual bonuses. Last year these totaled 12 million – the maximum.

The most recent departure came last April, when Alexander Sieber left his position as senior vice president of corporate finance — a role he would hold starting in 2019 by “mutual agreement,” Ms.^me Because we are.

“In March, it was agreed that he would leave the organization when he saw that his mandate was served by mutual agreement,” she said.

Mr. Cyber ​​is eligible to deduct $379,000.

Paul Buran, formerly in charge of government affairs, was paid the most generous bonus. He received $425,000, roughly a year’s salary.

A different face

The re-establishment of the IQ decided by the Legault government significantly increased the size of the state-owned enterprise, which now monopolizes resources scattered throughout the government apparatus. The latter, for example, swallowed the Industrial Research Center of Quebec (CRIQ) and the regional offices of the Ministry of Economy and Innovation.

Two of the eight vice presidents with no IQ didn’t get a bonus when they left. They are Ia Touré, who is at the helm of Resources Quebec, and Eric Dequenne, formerly in charge of international affairs. The first has been the Delegate General of Quebec in Dakar since 2020, while the second has been Assistant Deputy Minister, Finance and Interdepartmental Relations at the Ministry of International Relations and La Francophonie since October 2019.

Refocusing and the arrival of a new president usually lead to changes, notes Ivan Tchotourian, a professor specializing in governance at Laval University. In the case of IQ, the expert goes with a caveat.

“Eight is a big number in a senior management,” he said. There is a house. We want to make a break with the past. Granted a lot of money to change direction, it must be justified. »

Mr. Tchotourian opined.

Professor of Laval University’s Department of Management, Yann Simone does not have a crystal ball to see what will happen to the state’s financial sector in the coming years. Overall, a trend can be observed after several changes, said the expert.

“Often, when there are significant strategic changes over a period of time, there is a tendency to stabilize in senior management positions,” explained Mr. Simone. It is not unusual to observe some turnover in these functions. There is competition for quality managers. »

In 2021-22, IQ has returned 7.6%. This performance is a far cry from last year’s 25% result, during which the stock markets were away.

With William Leclerc, Press