MRC names private business recipients of FRR 2 funding

MRC names private business recipients of FRR 2 funding

At the May meeting of the MRC Pontiac council of mayors, council approved the final report for the Fond régions et ruralité (FRR) component 2 for 2024.

The FRR is a provincial envelope that the Ministry of Municipal Affairs (MAMH) distributes for MRCs to divvy up within their region, with different components dedicated to different priorities.

While the vast majority of FRR component 2 goes to initiatives by municipal bodies and non-profit groups, roughly 10-15% each year goes to financial support for private businesses (2021 is an outlier at 34% due to declines in other types of projects). The eligibility criteria are available here.

However, the report, as well as the ones going back to 2020, do not list the names of the private businesses that received funding, listing only their sector (such as agriculture), and a description of the project.

Following an access to information request from CHIP 101.9, the MRC provided the names of businesses that received funding for the following years: 2024, 2023, 2022, 2021.

At the time of this article’s publication, CHIP 101.9 is still waiting on the recipients from 2020.

MRC Director General Kim Lesage noted at the time of the request that the MAMH did not require the names of businesses in their reports, which is why they were left out but included in the reports for other FRR components.

“We did it without the names in the past, before we had streams 3 and 4, and then just continued doing the reports that way,” she wrote. “The ministry doesn’t ask for names in the reports, but we do not believe it is confidential information.”

She said she believed the names should be published proactively in reports going forward.

Component 2’s goal is “revitalization of living environments in the MRC Pontiac and/or to create and maintain jobs on the MRC Pontiac territory”, and the businesses that received grants are primarily in the agriculture or tourism industries. The total amount distributed to private businesses in 2024 was $265,793 (out of a total disbursement $2,090,916), and the report also breaks down the overall cost of each project as well as the amount committed by other contributors.

Some examples of private recipients from the 2024 report include:

• $75,000 to 14979982 Canada Inc, a company registered in Bryson, for a 10,000 sq. foot greenhouse project
• $40,000 to Boutique Chaussures Shawville S.E.N.C for the transfer of “Shawville Shooz”
• $26,250 to Herboristerie La Fée des Bois Inc for “construction of tourist accommodation chalets and sauna/spa facilities”
• $26,250 to Wildwood Nature Escape Inc. for 10 “glamping” sites (4 geodesic domes, 3 cabins and 3 tents)
• $20,000 to Ferme Familiale Beck for the purchase and installation of four robotic milking machines

The next report on FRR 2 funding, covering the period from January 1 to March 31, 2025, was approved at the MRC’s June meeting and is due to be published by June 30, 2025. The report for April 1, 2025 to March 31, 2026, is expected by June 30, 2026.