Peter Black,
May 1, 2024
Local Journalism Initiative reporter
peterblack@qctonline.com
With another season ended at the Mont Sainte-Anne ski resort, there are signs the Quebec government is preparing to act to find a new operator and upgrade the deteriorating attraction.
Jonatan Julien, the minister of infrastructure and minister responsible for the capital region, said a deal regarding the future of the ski hill, currently in the hands of Alberta-based Resorts of the Canadian Rockies (RCR), “is certainly possible” before the start of the next season.
Julien made the comments at an April 23 parliamentary committee meeting to discuss budget credits for the capital region. Responding to questioning by Liberal interim leader Marc Tanguay, Julien said the file “is progressing very well, quite honestly … We are having very, very important discussions.” He did not specify with whom.
Whatever deal the government may be working on, a tight deadline looms, according to Les Amis de Mont Sainte-Anne, the group that’s been pushing for new ownership to revamp the facility.
Group president Yvon Charest told the QCT, “If you don’t have a new manager for the mountain by July 1, it’s going to be impossible to make the infrastructure improvement in time for the Canada Winter Games that will be happening in February 2027.”
Charest said the Coalition Avenir Québec government needs to change its strategy of trying to negotiate with RCR, which has already rejected private offers to purchase the ski station. He said the government “does not want to play tough with RCR” because it is afraid the owner will walk away and stick Quebec with the ownership and onus to invest millions in new facilities.
Charest said there is an ideal option available with the interest expressed in Mont Sainte-Anne by Christian Mars, founder of the French-Swiss management company e-Liberty, which last year signed a 33-year lease to operate the Mont Grand-Fonds ski hill in the Charlevoix and plans to invest some $45 million to develop the site.
Mars, through his Compagnie des montagnes de ski du Québec, has offered to invest $100 million in Mont Sainte-Anne, topped up by another $20 million from local investors, Charest said.
In a recent interview with the Journal de Québec, Mars deplored the deteriorating condition of Mont Sainte-Anne. “It’s true that in Europe, a station in this state is closed immediately. We don’t let it run. It is not possible. There is a level of security that is not sufficient.”
The safety factor may give the Quebec government an opening to seek expropriation of Mont Sainte-Anne, Charest said, noting ski lifts on the mountain are more than 35 years old and operating well under capacity. Serious accidents on the lifts have occurred in recent years.
The public interest factor also needs to be considered, Charest said, with the upcoming Canada Winter Games in Quebec City in need of a downhill ski event venue up to current standards.
Mars said he met with Industry Minister Pierre Fitzgibbon at Mont Grand-Fonds in March. “He was able to see that we were doing what we are committed to. We are operators and we have shown that what we say, we do.”
Mars said, “The solution lies with the government. Our plan is known to the premier’s office, Mr. Fitzgibbon and Investissement Québec.”
Charest said RCR may have more incentive now to divest itself of Mont Sainte-Anne having recently lost control of the eastern part of the mountain in a court case brought by the Quebec government’s SEPAQ outdoors facilities agency.
The loss of revenue from that on top of the bleak ski season just finished may add up to retaining the resort not being worth the cost to RCR, he explained.
Charest said, “The way I see it is that it would be quite wise for the government.to move right now because of public interest, and I’m sure that if the government wants to do so you would have a happy community.”
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Prospective Mont Sainte-Anne operator Christian Mars shows off the gondola lift he’d like to see on Quebec slopes.