Regions and Rurality Fund (RRF) - Component 1

• The application form completed in French.
• A resolution from the applicant approving the project.
• A financing plan, including letters confirming other financial assistance where applicable.
• A realistic timeline.

Who is eligible?

• Organizations, subject to program exclusions.
• An establishment covered by article 79 of the Loi sur les services de santé et les services sociaux or an educational institution, if the eligible project is carried out in a municipality with fewer than 20,000 inhabitants and the whole community can benefit.

Who is not eligible

• For-profit businesses in the financial sector, including financial cooperatives and financial planners.
• Insurance or real estate brokerage businesses.
• Establishments covered by article 79 of the Loi sur les services de santé et les services sociaux, as well as hospital foundations and health cooperatives.
• Educational institutions.
• Individuals not operating a business and non-profit organizations whose activities do not resemble community action.

Eligible expenses

• Direct project costs, including salaries, employee benefits, rent, travel expenses, data acquisition, materials and equipment excluding rolling equipment, and reporting.
• Costs for plans and studies, including business plans, market analyses, technical and financial feasibility studies, concept development, activity programming, and sectoral tools or indicators.
• Construction, development, completion, or implementation costs for the project.
• Costs for planning and concertation initiatives involving regional stakeholders, including salaries, benefits, professional fees, and contracted services for regional diagnostics, planning, and coordination.
• Administrative expenses set out in Annex A, up to 5% of eligible expenses.

Ineligible Costs and Activities

• Projects with local scope that are not linked to other projects pursuing the same objective within the same call for projects.
• Projects intended to support salaries or permanent charges required for the organization’s normal operations, as well as recurrent operating expenses and costs not directly related to the project.
• Projects related to relocating businesses from another Quebec administrative region, projects associated with a place of worship unless they serve a non-religious purpose, and projects that conflict with a government policy or approved measure or could duplicate funding with another government program.
• Costs incurred before the application date, costs related to projects already completed, decontamination costs, and construction, renovation, or conversion costs for housing units.
• Operating deficits, loan repayment, working capital refinancing, support for the regional project selection committee’s work, government administration costs, activities governed by Quebec government budget rules, the refundable portion of taxes, interest, loans, loan guarantees, equity participation, lobbying activities, and legal fees related to civil or criminal accusations involving the personal liability of directors or staff.

Eligible geographic areas

• All administrative regions of Quebec except Montréal and Capitale-Nationale

• Relevance: alignment with the regional priority or, in a situation conjoncturelle, with the issue and objectives described in the call for projects.
• Impacts and structuring effect: growth potential, job creation, removal of development obstacles, and durable collaboration among actors.
• Regional mobilization and cohesion: strong collective involvement and active commitment from municipalities, the population, and organizations in the territory.
• Potential for differentiation for the region: ability to highlight regional strengths and reinforce territorial identity and attractiveness.
• Applicant capacity, financing plan quality, and sustainability: technical, human, and financial capacity; a realistic and detailed financing plan supported by partner contributions; and integration of sustainable development practices.

• Apply in response to a regional call for projects launched by the government based on one or more regionally determined themes.
• Review the regional objectives and call dates published on the program page.

• The ministère des Affaires municipales et de l’Habitation verifies compliance with the call for projects and checks the eligibility of the applicant and the project, taking into account sectoral opinions from the relevant ministries and government bodies.
• If the application is not eligible, a letter is sent to the applicant and the file is closed.
• Complete applications from eligible applicants are analyzed against the program’s selection criteria.
• After analysis, the comité régional de sélection de projets prioritizes the projects to be recommended to the minister.
• The minister sends an official decision letter. If the project is selected, the applicant signs a grant agreement setting the project conditions and payment terms and must provide the information needed to assess results.

• A project’s admissibility does not guarantee that funding will be awarded.
• Eligible applicants that are not already subject to Quebec contract awarding rules must award any construction contract required for the project to the lowest compliant bidder. For a contract valued from $50,000 to $133,800 inclusively, a written invitation must be sent to at least two suppliers; for a contract valued at $133,800 or more, a public call for tenders is required.