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Business Business Profile At one time, Montreal was the commercial capital of Canada, home to the largest number of head offices and the greatest concentration of wealth in the country. Its fortunes were based on the fur trade, its key role as a port and rail terminus, and its strong manufacturing sector. Throughout the 60s and 70s, it saw head offices depart for Toronto, an exodus that accelerated with the rise of Québécois nationalism. The city faced a declining manufacturing industry as well, with high unemployment and a stagnating economy resulting. Counter to that were the development of ‘Québec Inc’ and a number of homegrown success stories, such as the aerospace and engineering giants Bombardier, SNC-Lavalin and the provincial utility company Hydro-Québec. The turnaround in recent years, though, has been staggering. Montreal is now a major centre for 21st century technologies, notably in the aerospace, biotechnology, pharmaceutical and information technology sectors, enhanced by a concentration of research centres and four universities. In the cultural industries, as well, it is a major player: multimedia and special effects software companies, like Discreet and Softimage, have developed in a city with a formidable telecommunications sector, dominated by Bell Canada (BCE) and Nortel Networks (one of the world’s largest producers of optical fibre networks). The Cité du Multimédia enterprise zone has been a huge success, and similar efforts – a duty-free zone at Mirabel Airport and the proposed E-Commerce Place – are in the works. In all, there are still over 100 head offices in Montreal and the port is on a rebound as well – it ranks third in Canada, based largely on the flow of containerised cargo. The city produces over half of the province’s GDP and is finally seeing significant declines in its unemployment rate, although ongoing restructuring in the manufacturing industry has kept it at 8.2%, still above the Canadian average of 7.0%, in June 2001. Montreal ranks third in North America for hosting international conferences and this is likely to increase with the doubling in size of the Palais des Congrès convention centre. International organisations, such as the International Air Transportation Association (IATA) and the UN’s International Civil Aviation Authority (ICAO) and Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity, are based here. Business Etiquette Although there is more English spoken in the business world than on the streets, a few words of French before switching to English will ensure a much better reception than launching into English straight away. Whether documents should be translated into French depends on the industry but a translation of the executive summary would be considered a beau geste (good gesture). Due to the touchy political situation, it is best to avoid discussing issues of language rights or the sovereignty movement, however. Normal business courtesies should be observed, although Montrealers are less formal than Europeans and usually use first-name terms after initial introductions have been completed. When speaking French, it is best to use ‘vous’ until the other party uses the less formal ‘tu’; after that, lapsing back into ‘vous’ is considered bad form. Business cards are usually exchanged either at the beginning or at the end of the first meeting. Both men and women generally wear suits but short-sleeved shirts are acceptable in summer and more casual attire is the norm in the new media industries. Business hours are generally 0900-1700 weekdays but often extend to 1800 or 1900; Montrealers are not early risers, as a rule. Business meals and entertaining range from a formal hotel breakfast meeting to a night out on the town. Many Montreal business deals are clinched in a more informal social setting. |
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