Two years after the end of the Legault government’s two rescue loan programs intended for businesses during the COVID-19 pandemic, The sun obtained the data to draw up the financial report.
According to information provided by the Ministry of Economy, Innovation and Energy of Quebec, in collaboration with Investissement Québec, the government has granted 1.147 billion in loans to businesses through PAUPME and PACTE.
Of this total 1.15 billion, 372.4 million were repaid to government authorities. Then 70.9 million were also written off from the account books, as companies benefiting from the loans still declared bankruptcy and closed their doors.
There remains 119.7 million still to be paid.
Ultimately, the public treasury will therefore recover at most 492.1 million.
Which leaves 654.9 million awarded with no expected return.
How much for who?
Starting in March 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic and its forced lockdowns and closures undermined the economic activities of several companies.
For a period of two years, from spring 2020 to June 2022, Quebec businesses could request new special loans from the Legault government, through the Ministry of the Economy or Investissement Québec.
Government pandemic financial assistance has been divided into two programs with, roughly, one component for loans of less than $50,000 and the other for loans greater than $50,000.
François Legault and his Minister of the Economy, Pierre Fitzgibbon, during the pandemic. (Jacques Boissinot/Canadian Press Archives)
Emergency aid program for small and medium-sized enterprises (PAUPME) : loans of less than $50,000.
Temporary concerted action program for businesses (PACTE) : loans or loan guarantees of at least $50,000.
We ask for forgiveness!
For PAUPME (less than $50,000), 10,500 loans were granted for a value of 568.6 million.
Two thirds, 372.8 million, were converted into grants or “loan forgiveness”. In total, nearly 96% of companies financially supported by PAUPME benefited from loan forgiveness for a certain amount, that is to say 10,100 out of 10,500.
As of March 31, 2024, 4,021 companies (38%) still had a repayable balance, for a combined amount of $58.9 million.
On that same date, the repayable financial assistance of 361 companies with PAUPME had been written off, in whole or in part, due to closure. The Quebec state lost 8 million here. The Ministry of the Economy estimates that “up to 3.3 million additional funds could be written off” for 294 companies.
The maximum amount that could be allocated to a company under PAUPME was capped at $150,000 per 12-month period.
The PAUPME repayment period could be spread over three to five years after the end of the repayment moratorium established until the end of 2022. Some companies therefore have until the end of 2027 to repay this debt to the government.
10 times fewer companies
As for the PACTE (more than $50,000), for a total loaned amount of 578.7 million almost equivalent to that of PAUPME, we are talking about 10 times fewer requests, or 1105 loans to 895 companies.
Among the 1,105 loans granted through PACTE, Investissement Québec received capital repayments for 903 of them, or 82%.
No less than 211.2 of the 578.7 million allocated under the PACTE will not return to government funds, i.e. 37%.
The Ministry of the Economy emphasizes that “as of May 31, 2024, there were 63 companies still in operation having benefited from the PACTE (74 interventions) which were in financial difficulties. The latter have accumulated sums to be reimbursed, including the amounts written off and deposits already paid, worth 123.8 million.
