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Groupe Le Massif is trying to acquire Mont-Sainte-Anne in order to increase its activities and offer an improved four-season Quebec product for the North American market.
Le Massif de Charlevoix is a 4-season mountain resort that offers an incredible playground, set in a breathtaking landscape, with a vast array of activities to enjoy summer like winter. In 2021 Le Massif opened the first Club Med ski resort in North America.
”Au Massif, there is innovation, the infrastructures are well maintained. There are new buildings. There are developments taking place around the mountain.” Says Alex Harvey, administrator and spokesperson, Friends of Mont-Sainte-Anne.
Public dissatisfaction with the Resorts of The Canadian Rockies (RCR) management of Mont-Sainte-Anne and the general treatment of seasonal pass holders and users has been brewing for some time. In 2021 the government of Quebec started legal proceedings aimed at temporarily regaining ownership of the land around Mont-Sainte-Anne that is under contract with RCR.
The former minister responsible for the Capitale-Nationaleis, Agnès Maltais, is delighted to see “a good operator” like the Goupe Le Massif trying to acquire Mont-Sainte-Anne. Capitale-Nationale is the local government administrative region anchored by the provincial capital, Quebec City.
Ms. Maltais and Sam Hamad, another former minister responsible for the Capitale-Nationale, had signed an open letter last March asking the government to regain control of Mont-Sainte-Anne.
“We no longer have confidence in the current operator. We want people from the region who understand the situation. The current owner does not correspond to the wishes of what we had expressed as an opinion. That has to change,” Ms. Maltais asked again on Tuesday during a telephone interview.
According to Ms. Maltais, the Le Massif Group meets the three criteria necessary to ensure the sustainability of the premises since it offers “investments”, that it is considered to be “a good operator” and that it is “people of the region“.
In Beaupré, the local community, the announcement of the purchase offer is seen as “good news” by the mayor, Pierre Renaud, who recalls that “the economic vitality of Mont-Sainte-Anne has a positive impact on our community”. Renaud said. “Mont-Sainte-Anne is our economic engine, it’s kind of our economic lung. If we refresh it and give it a little bit of love, it’s sure that in terms of businesses and direct economic spinoffs, it’s going to be important,”
Agnès Maltais is now asking Quebec’s Minister of the Economy, Pierre Fitzgibbon, to study the offer “seriously and advantageously”. “The Minister of the Economy must not believe in the fine words of the current operator. If the current owner wants to take over, they have to put money on the table. We think RCR never will.” she said.
For his part, Mr Fitzgibbon commented that he is disappointed that RCR hasn’t made any investments in Mont-Sainte-Anne for a very long time. “The role of government is not to mediate who will own Mont-Sainte-Anne. The government’s role is, if there is someone who wants to invest in the mountains, I think we have to be there. We did it in Orford, we did it in Bromont, we did it at Le Massif, we did it everywhere.
Resorts of the Canadian Rockies Inc. is the largest private ski resort owner/operator in Canada, owning six ski resorts with with a head office in Calgary.
Previous published on Actual News Magazine.
