The Chamber of Commerce of Metropolitain Montreal (CCMM) in partnership with the federal, provincial and municipal governments announced a new initiative aimed at accelerating Montreal’s economic recovery amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
The idea is look at ways to relaunch the economy by convening working groups and studying what is happening in various sectors in order to better help affected businesses.
“We are going to do a detailed analysis of the state of affairs of various sectors that are important for Montreal by trying to understand what is the current dynamic, what are the actions that we must take quickly and how we can have a medium and long-term vision,” said Michel Leblanc, CCMM president.
The Relaunch MTL initiative is a collaborative approach that will target 14 key sectors of the economy including aerospace, retail business, creative industries and tourism, to name a few.
Leblanc explained Montreal’s economy, though hard hit by the pandemic has rebounded strongly if not unevenly.
“The reality right now is we have to take care of all the vulnerable sectors really rapidly,” he said.
The federal government is contributing $750,000 to the initiative, while the Quebec government is pitching in $425,000.
Yves Lalumière, president and CEO of Tourisme Montréal, welcomed the announcement.
“For tourism, you know we’ve been the hardest hit industry so any news is good news,” he said. “We’ll do the diagnostic and the action plan for the next year.”
Lalumière admitted the industry is only slowly picking up, but is confident it can turn around.
“It’s been one of the best industries in the world for the last 20 years and I think it’s going to be the same for next 20 years, but short term it’s a little tough.”
The initiative will see nine action plans developed, nine sector specific forums, five talks and a closing event is scheduled for November.
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