A white paper is generally created at the end of the Economic Forum for Business Succession (FERA), an initiative of the Regroupement des jeunes chambres de commerce du Québec (RJCCQ), which represents 47 young chambers of commerce and youth wings across the province. This event allows young entrepreneurs, professionals, self-employed workers and students aged 18-35 to reflect on current issues and provide avenues for reflection and solutions. This year, the work is particularly important. "It is an exceptional white paper in an exceptional period," assures Pierre Graff. "We feel that we are in a pivotal moment. Young people have expressed their concerns to us a lot over the past year."

“We think there will be a before and after COVID,” continues the CEO of the RJCCQ. “There is potentially an issue regarding the entrepreneurial spirit. For years, we have made entrepreneurship sexy, we have created a dynamic. We must ensure that we maintain this momentum, the heart of which is the succession of businesses. However, this depends on the return of a solid economy and this requires innovation.”

The recommendations of the white paper of the sixth edition of FERA are structured around four main themes (see box). "These themes allow us to suggest decisions that will help immediately and others that will allow the transition to take place over several years. I am thinking in particular of the 11th recommendation which suggests drawing inspiration from the Estonian model to launch an e-citizenship project. These changes could be spread over several years, but the benefits would be great and would be felt quickly (reduction of the digital footprint, better access to public services, securing the system)."

"What we want more than anything is for the next generation of business people to be fully considered to play a role in this pivotal moment," adds Pierre Graff. "These 11 proposals show how young people can contribute to the recovery and we hope that this will be the case."

11 RECOMMENDATIONS TO RELAUNCH QUEBEC

SUPPORT FOR BUSINESS SUCCESSION

1. Exempt from taxes the salaries of founders and the profits of new SMEs with more than one employee for the first two years following their creation, in order to reduce their financial and administrative costs and offer an unprecedented incentive to start a business.

2. Relax existing tax rules so that entrepreneurs transferring their SMEs to family members benefit from the same tax advantages as those favouring external buyers.

3. Ease the debt burden of SMEs by eliminating the interest rate on loans granted to them by governments since the start of the pandemic and by extending the deadline before they will have to start repaying them.

TRANSFORMATION OF THE WORLD OF WORK

4. Establish a new permanent program of financing for continuing training in companies, according to the PACME model, targeting strategic industries and apprenticeships.

5. Promote the requalification of workers in essential strategic and green sectors by making them a priority within the framework of the Recovery Assistance Program through Increased Training (PARAF) and make this program permanent.

6. Double the Quebec government's monthly connection target to make up for the backlog of high-speed Internet connections in the province's regions.

OPEN INNOVATION

7. Add an “Open Innovation” component to the Quebec government’s Innovation program, using the model of the Open Innovation Grant for Emerging Businesses of the City of Montreal to encourage collaboration between emerging businesses and those already established in Quebec.

8. Launch a new incubator program to support the commercialization and marketing of innovations, based on the model of the federal Innovative Solutions Canada (ISC) program.

DIGITAL IDENTITY

9. Expand the scope of the current digital identity project so that it becomes a true “digital wallet”, developed jointly with the Government of Canada, which will allow the use of government services, to interact securely with private companies while reducing the digital footprint of individuals.

10. Build public buy-in to this digital wallet and launch large, transparent public education initiatives on technological literacy, security culture and the security controls in place.

11. Launch an e-citizenship project inspired by the Estonian model and successes.