The Government of Quebec is making access to government services significantly easier for business owners by establishing Entreprises Québec. The service is available online and over the phone and aims to make business owners’ dealings with the government easier on several fronts, including start-up, innovation and exportation.
The announcement was made today by Stéphane Billette, Minister for Small and Medium Enterprises, Regulatory Streamlining and Regional Economic Development, along with François Blais, Minister of Employment and Social Solidarity, and Robert Poëti, Minister for Integrity in Public Procurement and for Information Resources.
Entreprises Québec has three components: an informational website, transactional web services via the Zone entreprise, and a general information service that can transfer business owners’ more complex requests to ministries and to Entreprises Québec’s partner organizations. This service means that business owners can get answers to their questions without having to repeatedly provide the same information.
Quotes:
Entreprises Québec marks an important turning point in support for businesses and their relationship with the government; it will truly make life easier for business owners. This integrated service helps reduce the administrative load of businesses while simplifying their dealings with the government. For example, the Démarrer une entreprise service will reduce the time spent on administrative processes related to starting a business by half.
– Stéphane Billette, Minister for Small and Medium Enterprises, Regulatory Streamlining and Regional Economic Development
The creation of Entreprises Québec is part of the overall optimization and modernization of Services Québec, the gateway to government services for citizens and businesses across the province. This enhances our services for businesses by providing easier access to public services.
– François Blais, Minister of Employment and Social Solidarity
Businesses are essential to the vitality of Quebec’s economy. That’s why we want to optimize our support for businesses at each stage of growth through Entreprises Québec. We also intend to better support them in their attempts to secure government contracts by establishing, in the near future, a public tender support office, as proposed in the report by the working group on entrepreneurship and new businesses.
– Robert Poëti, Minister for Integrity in Public Procurement and for Information Resources
With the establishment of Entreprises Québec, the government is once again demonstrating that Quebec businesses are at the heart of its initiatives. This is a one-stop informational and transactional portal that aims to better support Quebec business owners, especially in commercialization, growth and succession. Moreover, these are the solutions that were identified by the members of the Investissement Québec manufacturing initiative to encourage innovative manufacturers to make the leap to 4.0.
– Dominique Anglade, Deputy Premier, Minister of Economy, Science and Innovation and Minister responsible for the Digital Strategy
I am convinced that with Entreprises Québec, businesses, like those in the Capitale‑Nationale region, which are truly at the core of this service offering, will greatly benefit from all the opportunities that are opening up to them. By grouping our services together, we are making life easier for business owners while allowing them to be more efficient so they can focus on the success of their businesses.
– André Drolet, Member for Jean‑Lesage and Parliamentary Assistant to the Minister for Small and Medium Enterprises, Regulatory Streamlining and Regional Economic Development
Key facts:
- The Entreprises Québecwebsite makes it easy for business owners to find the various resources offered by ministries and government organizations. It offers information concerning the rights and obligations of businesses towards government bodies, as well as tips and practical advice to help business owners fulfill their administrative duties.
- The Démarrer une entrepriseservice helps simplify the startup process and reduce processing time by allowing entrepreneurs to perform the many steps required for the launch of their business without having to provide the same information at every step. The time required for the administrative process related to the creation of a business will thus drop, on average, from 16 days to 7.
- The Zone entreprise provides access to several services related to business management, including the online services of ministries and partner organizations as well as those related to a change of address and to tracking transactions. The Zone entreprise also offers the services of the Enterprise Register as well as registration in Revenu Québec’s tax files when starting a business. More than 37,600 businesses are currently registered for this zone.
- The website also includes the PerLE service, which makes it easier to search for permits, licences and certificates required by the Government of Quebec, the Government of Canadaand municipalities for starting or running a business, as well as Ressources +, a search tool listing the programs and services of the Quebec government and NGOs. It is also possible to sign up to the Accès Entreprises newsletter, which provides complete information on news, programs and government events.
- Currently, 208 Quebec municipalities have signed up to the PerLE sevice, covering 66% of the population.
- A general information service also offers phone connections with some twenty ministries and government organizations, immediately directing business owners to the right place depending on their requests, all from a single phone number.
- The establishment of the public tender support office is one of the ten recommendations issued by the working group on entrepreneurship and new businesses in its report, filed in February 2017, which seeks to promote new businesses’ access to government contracts.
