Sophie McCann says the aim of the fund is to help charities “just get over the hump, so that they can keep going after.”

Sheltered from creditors since August, Groupe Capitales Medias has some 350 permanent employees and publishes regional dailies Le Soleil, La Tribune, La Voix de l'Est, Le Droit, Le Nouvelliste and Le Quotidien.

The former president of the Quebec Federation of Labour said he was told that organized crime was plotting to take over the union's billion-dollar investment fund.