PARESAU – Component 1

• A completed, dated, and signed financial assistance application form.
• A detailed project description as required in the application.
• The external consultant’s service offer, if applicable.
• Financial statements for the last two years, interim financial statements if the latest statements are more than six months old, and forecast financial statements.
• Proof of compliance with francization requirements, if applicable, plus a declaration of compliance regarding employment equity when the applicant is a for-profit business with more than 100 employees and the assistance is $100,000 or more, and any other document required by Investissement Québec or the Ministry.

Who is eligible?

• Legally constituted for-profit businesses under the laws of Quebec or Canada.
• Collective enterprises within the meaning of the Social Economy Act whose financial viability relies more than 40% on autonomous revenue from their economic activities in the last financial year.
• Businesses registered in Quebec and carrying on activities there.

Who is not eligible

• Businesses operating in excluded sectors, including the primary sector, except greenhouse cultivation or a building serving the same purpose, conditioning activities when the business has carried out a major project, and forestry operations; mining, quarrying, and oil and gas extraction; real estate and rental and leasing; construction; utilities; management of companies and enterprises; health care and social assistance; educational services; public administration; finance and insurance; arts, entertainment and recreation; telecommunications services; radio broadcasting; restaurants; and other services, except retail and wholesale trade and certain tourism accommodation projects tied to a recreational tourism project.
• Businesses entered, provisionally or permanently, in the Registre des entreprises non admissibles aux contrats publics, including when the project relies on subcontractors entered in that register.
• Businesses that are not compliant with the francization process under the Charte de la langue française.
• Businesses that have failed to meet obligations related to previous financial assistance from a Quebec ministry or agency within the previous two years, as well as state-owned enterprises or businesses controlled directly or indirectly by a government.
• Businesses under the protection of the Loi sur les arrangements avec les créanciers des compagnies or the Loi sur la faillite et l’insolvabilité, and businesses whose main activities involve controversial weapons, fossil fuels except transition activities, gambling, violent games or combat sports involving living species, sexual exploitation or pornography, or tobacco or drugs, subject to the stated exceptions for certain pharmaceutical-grade cannabis, licensed research and development, and certain industrial hemp medical products.

Eligible expenses

• Professional fees of external consulting firms.
• Costs related to purchasing specialized information that is relevant and necessary to carry out the activities, including statistics and market analyses.
• Travel and accommodation expenses of external consulting firms, in accordance with the government standards set out in the Recueil des politiques de gestion du gouvernement du Québec.

Ineligible Costs and Activities

• Expenses incurred before the application filing date, including expenses for which the business has already made contractual commitments.
• Debt servicing, including principal and interest, repayment of future borrowings, capital losses, capital replacement, and payments or amounts disbursed as capital.
• Regular operating expenses of the business.
• Capital and amortization expenses, including software acquisition and development costs and software licence fees, as well as intellectual property maintenance expenses.
• Land acquisition or site development, acquisition, construction or expansion of buildings, transactions between related businesses or partners, and Quebec sales taxes.

• The strategic nature of the enterprise.
• The necessity of the assistance, based on financial analysis.
• The absence of negative impact on existing businesses.

• Complete, date, and sign the financial assistance application form.
• Prepare the required supporting documents, including the detailed project description, the consultant’s service offer if applicable, the required financial statements, proof of francization compliance if applicable, and any other required documents.
• Send the complete financial assistance application file to aidefinanciere@invest-quebec.com.

• Applications are processed and analyzed on a continuous basis by Investissement Québec, in collaboration with the Minister, once the required information and documents have been provided, subject to budget availability and program rules.
• All authorized projects must be covered by a financial assistance agreement defining the payment conditions and the obligations of the parties.
• The assistance may be paid in up to three instalments: a first instalment of up to 50% at signature, subsequent instalments tied to progress reports and supporting documents, and a final instalment of at least 15% upon delivery of a final report and a completed results form.
• The business must begin the project no later than three months after authorization, and the project period cannot exceed a maximum continuous period of 18 months.
• After the project, Investissement Québec or the Ministry may require an external audit report; the beneficiary must also keep all documents related to the assistance for three years and may be required to complete results evaluation forms or respond to a survey.

• Investissement Québec administers this program on behalf of the Gouvernement du Québec.
• The ministère de l’Économie, de l’Innovation et de l’Énergie and Investissement Québec reserve the right to suspend, without notice, the filing and analysis of applications to ensure the availability of the program budget.
• Other conditions may apply.