Economy

The City of Longueuil plans to acquire the heritage buildings belonging to the Sisters of the Holy Names of Jesus and Mary (SNJM), on rue Saint-Charles Est in Old Longueuil, in order to house community organizations and social economy enterprises. Ongoing discussions with the congregation might lead to the filing, as early as the fall, of an offer to purchase from the City.

The congregation, which has 122 nuns in Quebec, has wanted to sell the real estate complex for years, but not to just anyone, and it had set one condition: that the buyer retain the social and community mission of the place. Several real estate developers have expressed interest, admits Bernard Voyer, director general of the congregation of the Sisters of the SNJM. “But they didn’t stay interested for long. They weren’t encouraged. »

Last year, the Social Economy Pole of the Longueuil agglomeration had worked on a building acquisition plan, but the project might not materialize because of the excessive financial burden.

It is now the City of Longueuil that covets the buildings to ensure their preservation. “For us, it’s a question of responsibility with regard to our heritage in Longueuil,” explains Mayor Catherine Fournier, in an interview with the Duty. We are talking regarding the oldest buildings on our territory, which have seen many eras and history pass. For us, it is important to acquire the buildings to keep their social vocation. »

The City might file a purchase offer as early as this fall. Beforehand, however, she wants to make sure that the three heritage buildings are in good condition. The city council was to approve, Tuesday evening, the awarding of a $341,000 contract to the architectural firm Affleck de la Riva to carry out a heritage and dilapidation study.

Well maintained buildings

The building complex has three buildings, namely the Maison de la congrégation, whose construction dates from before the Conquest of 1760, as well as the Maison Marie-Rose Durocher and the Maison Notre-Dame, erected in the 19^e century. Significant renovations were carried out in the 1980s to the interior spaces of the main building, with the exception of the chapel and a few rooms which have been renovated, but which have retained their heritage characteristics, underlines Bernard Voyer.

The Maison Jésus-Marie, where several nuns reside, is not part of the sale.

The preliminary analysis carried out by the engineers of the City reveals however that the buildings, which have been meticulously maintained by the nuns, are in very good condition, indicates Catherine Fournier. “It is certain that our purchase offer will be conditional on the results of the upcoming study. »

The mayor specifies that major work is not planned in the short term, except for the ventilation system, which will have to be replaced. As the archives of the nuns will be transferred, the vault might accommodate the archives of the City, adds the elected official.

Catherine Fournier expects the cost of acquiring the buildings to be around ten million dollars. “Maybe a little more,” she said. But the sisters do not want to sell the buildings to us at an exorbitant speculative price, but rather at their fair value, so that they end up in the hands of people who can take care of them for future generations. »

Co-management

The City would like the buildings to house community organizations, and with this in mind, it has partnered with the Social Economy Pole of the Longueuil agglomeration. Mayor Fournier even mentions the possibility of setting up a building co-management system with this organization.

Director General of the Pole, David Miljour underlines that the needs in terms of space are great, not only for community organizations, but also for cultural organizations. “It is difficult for cultural organizations and artists to have places where the rent is affordable. Purchasing by the City is therefore a strategic lever,” he says.

Mr. Miljour mentions that a dozen organizations have expressed interest in settling in the former convent. It also mentions the possibility of providing spaces for dissemination, in the chapel in particular, as well as a museum and a CPE. “There might be an intergenerational living environment with a social, cultural and economic pole. I think it might be a model that might be replicated elsewhere in Quebec. »

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The CEO of Saputo, Lino Saputo Junior, and three other executives of the Quebec company saw their compensation increase significantly last year.

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Mr. Saputo earned $5.14 million in the fiscal year that ended March 31, a regulatory document filed last week shows. This is three times more than the compensation of $ 1.63 million he received the previous year and 18% more than in 2020-2021.

The big boss was notably entitled to an annual bonus of $ 3.4 million when he had received nothing in this regard in 2021-2022.

The chief financial officer, Maxime Therrien, received $5.15 million last year, or 30% more than the previous year.

North America chief operating officer Carl Colizza earned even more: He took home $6.22 million last year, up 31% from 2021-22.

Finally, the head of human resources, Gaétane Wagner, received $4.33 million last year, or 4.8% more than the previous year.

Rising revenues and profits

During 2022-2023, Saputo saw its net profits jump 127% to reach $622 million on sales of $17.8 billion, up 19%.

On the Toronto Stock Exchange, Saputo’s stock has risen regarding 17% over the past 52 weeks.

However, the stock fell sharply last week due to the recent deterioration in market conditions.

Five days following abandoning a first plan to take over Casino, the trio made up of Moez-Alexandre Zouari, Xavier Niel and Matthieu Pigasse submitted an offer of 1 billion euros to raise the capital of the struggling distribution group, according to ” Challenges” and AFP. A source familiar with the matter confirmed the offer to “Echos”.

A news appreciated by the markets. This Wednesday morning, the action opened with a jump of 20.57%, to 8 euros, and continued its momentum during the morning. Over the week, it even soared by 33%, even if its trend has remained negative (nearly -20%) since the start of the year.