March 23, 1995
The Semaine de la francophonie - Francophonie week - from March 19 to 25 marked the 25th anniversary of the creation of the Agence de coopération culturelle et technique (ACCT), the international cultural and technological cooperation agency. Its members are the forty countries around the world that have the use of French in common.
Prime Minister Jacques Parizeau addressed representatives of the consular corps from francophone countries at an official dinner at the National Assembly celebrating the anniversary. The current secretary-general of ACCT is Jean-Louis Roy of Québec.
Environment Minister Jacques Brassard took part in a roundtable on the consequnces of the Rio Summit on sustainable development organized by the Institut de l'énergie, while Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of International Affairs, Immigration and Cultural Communities Bernard Landry addressed a meeting of the Forum francophone des affaires, the francophone business forum.
The week's cultural agenda included a special performance in homage to Québec poet and singer Félix Leclerc, a Cajun music show, a roundtable on French and the information highway, and the launching of special publications as well as meetings of organizations such as the Conseil de la Vie française en Amérique.
Société Innovatech du Grand Montréal and Suraltech Inc., a subsidiary of the Venezuelan conglomerate Sural Group, have agreed to a new international venture involving a $20-million R&D project in Montréal.
SurAlform, a company jointly managed by Innovatech and Suraltech Inc., has been mandated to develop a full scale prototype machine capable of manufacturing large aluminum automotive parts. The $20-million project will run for 36 months and will involve some fifteen highly specialized scientists.
"This innovative technology will use the plastic properties of aluminum alloys to create an entirely new approach to materials forming," said Dr. Alfredo Riviere, president of the Sural Group. A successful prototype automated machine will lead to establishing a full commercial-scale plant in Québec to supply the global market, he added.
Sural operates the Intral plant in Princeville, the only plant in Canada producing aluminum-coated steel wire for electrical, mechanical and telecommunications applications.
The Corby plant was designed to print over 5 million magazines and supplements a week, Quebecor Printing said.
This is the third major phase of Montréal-based Quebecor Printing's expansion in Europe this year. It follows the acquisition of HunterPrint itself in January and the printing facilities of Groupe Jean Didier in France in February. It strengthens Quebecor Printing's position on the European market, said chairman of the board Jean Neveu, and "proves that HunterPrint has reemerged as a key player in the United Kingdom."
Canadian Marconi Co. of Montréal says it has received a $6.2-million contract from ITT Corp.'s ITT Aerospace/Communications division in Fort Wayne, Indiana, to supply liquid crystal display modules and keyboards.
The units will be used for a secure voice communications radio, Canadian Marconi said. Deliveries will be made over twelve months beginning immediately.
Canadian Marconi Co. of Montréal says Swissair has chosen the CMA-2102 Satcom antenna for its fleet of Airbus A319, A320 and A321 aircraft. The value of the contract was not disclosed.
The company said the contract covers 29 systems, and includes options for up to 26 additional antennas. It said installations will start this summer and be completed by early 1997.
The antenna is a key part of the new Inmarsat satellite-based communications systems, which enable passengers and crew to communicate with any other point on the globe, regardless of the aircraft's location, the company said.
Montréal-based Canam Manac Group announced it has agreed to sell the assets of MRM Steel of Selkirk, Manitoba, to Grupo Gerdau Empreendimentos Ltda. of Brazil for about $160 million. The transaction will close June 20.
Canam Manac said the sale confirms its "strategic return to its core business - the fabrication of metal construction components and semitrailers."
Prima Télématic of Montréal, which works in the interactive telephony sector, has signed an exclusive agreement with the Tunisian company S2i (Société d'industrie informatique) for the distribution of its PRIMA Message 3.0 auto attendant message system.
François Rainville, president of Prima Télématique, said that Tunisia represents "a potential $50- million market in interactive telephony." The contract is Prima's second in North Africa, it having signed a similar agreement with a Moroccan firm last November.
The contract for constructing the plant at Port Qasim is valued at US$250 million, the company said. KSH will benefit from the financial support of the federal Export Development Corporation, which provides assistance to Canadian companies wishing to position themselves on international markets.
Siemens Electric Ltd. of Pointe-Claire has sold its first German-designed digital central office phone system in Canada to the Bruce Municipal Telephone System in Tiverton, Ontario, according to The Globe and Mail.
It will connect 12 remote systems serving several communities and industrial centres, including Ontario Hydro's Bruce nuclear generating station.
Siemens says the new system will make telecommuting easier by using integrated services digital network (ISDN) lines to retrieve files, hold meetings via video conferencing and do collaborative computing with co-workers at the office or at home.
It isn't every company that has the logistical know-how to fly up mountains and canoe down jungle rivers to service a product. But then few companies like SR Telecom Inc. make the remotest parts of the world their marketplace.
Of course undertaking to keep distant lands in touch with the rest of the world is what SR Telecom is all about. The Montreal-based company has carved a small niche in the world by manufacturing and providing point-to-point microwave telephone systems for more than 70 countries.
In the past year, the company has completed deals in Saudi Arabia, Africa and Vietnam, and has continued to strengthen ties with its biggest customer, China. In 1994, the company had a net profit of $14 million on revenue of $107 million.
Developing countries see economic progress is linked closely with telecommunications. Now instead of stringing telephone lines over deserts or mountains, microwave systems are cheaper and more reliable.
Michael Morris, vice-president of SR Telecom, said his company is in a great position to take advantage of this situation. Most of his customers are government agencies or telephone companies that see how advanced telecommunications can shape a country. He said one benefit is that rural populations don't necessarily have to migrate to large cities if services are available in outlying areas.
Mr. Morris said when SR Telecom hooks up a village not everyone gets a phone. Instead, government officials and citizens share a small number of phones, but the whole community benefits from increased communication. A $54-million contract to install systems in Thailand meant service in 40 remote villages. The average number of phones installed in each village was five, three of which were pay phones.
Although each setting is different, the product remains the same. Each generation of the SR100 and SR500 systems has improvements, but they remain compatible with all other standard telephone systems and an SR product operating in the Arctic circle is the same as in rural Saudi Arabia.
Lallemand of Montréal, the top Canadian supplier of yeasts and biochemical ingredients for the agrifood industry, has just acquired part of the American activities of the Dutch group Gist-brocades N.V.
Lallemand has put its hand on a yeast factory in California and production facilities in New Jersey as well as an American distribution and technical service team. A laboratory in Philadelphia will be moved to Montréal. Gist-brocades activities in New Jersey, where a plant will be closed in May, will be integrated into Lallemand's plants in Montréal and its American Yeast unit in Baltimore.
The California location may open new horizons, given the North American Free Trade Agreement. One of the company's major customers in Canada, the Weston bakery group, is involved in setting up a large industrial bakery near Mexico City. The project is likely to create spinoffs for its participants in all of Latin America where North American style food like bread is growing popular. Lallemand already has customers in Chile and Argentina.
Before the acquisition, about half of Lallemand's activities were in Canada and the rest were split between Europe, where Lallemand S.A. in France has an international clientele for its biotechnological ingredients (active bacteria, fermentation yeasts), and the United States. Many of the cottage industry bakeries Lallemand supplies in the U.S. market call for individualized service.
Noranda Inc. says it will invest $33 million in the next phase of the Magnola magnesium project in Québec. It will set up a 200-tonne-capacity pilot plant at the Noranda Technology Centre in Pointe- Claire to demonstrate its manufacturing process for making magnesium metal from asbestos mine residue.
If the demonstration plant is successful, a $525-million commercial-scale plant will be built in the Thetford area east of Montréal by late 1997, said Michael Avedesian, vice-president of Magnola Metallurgy Inc., manager of the project. Thetford is in Québec's asbestos mining region where mine residues have a magnesium content of roughly 24 percent.
Magnola Metallurgy of Pointe-Claire is a consortium consisting of Noranda Metallurgy Inc., the Japanese auto-parts maker Aisin Seiki Co., Aisin Takaoka Co., Aisin World Corp. of America, SNC- Lavalin Group Inc. and Société générale de financement du Québec, a government agency. A $5- million loan from the Société Innovatech of Greater Montréal which promotes innovative technology is part of Magnola's $33-million investment.
Magnesium is combined with steel and with aluminum to create light-weight metal and is used in car parts, computers, cellular phones and aircraft parts.
BioChem Pharma president Dr. Francesco Bellini announced that the company will invest $36 million in constructing a plant to house its vaccine unit, IAF BioVac, in the Greater Québec City technology park.
IAF BioVac, the only vaccine producer in Québec, is a rising star in Québec biotechnology. Since its current facilities could not be sufficiently expanded to develop the critical mass it needs to become competitive internationally, it decided to build a new 100 000-square-foot ultramodern building and to acquire special equipment.
The Société du développement industriel (SDI) and the department of industry, trade, science and technology as well as the Société Innovatech Québec et Chaudière Appalaches will contribute to the project through loan guarantees, refundable loans and grants. Innovatech is supporting an IAF BioVac R&D project.
Minister of Industry, Trade, Science and Technology Daniel Paillé said that "This major investment project is the result of fruitful cooperation between the company, government agencies and socioeconomic agents in the Québec City area. It will enable the company to increase its production capacity considerably and to become a first-rate player in a highly competitive market."
Domtar announced it is going to invest $245 million by December 1996 to modernize its pulp mill at Lebel-sur-Quévillon in northwestern Québec.
The modernization plan calls for constructing a new recovery boiler at the cost of $120 million and a $25-million electricity cogeneration facility that will use the available biomass. Modifications will also be made to improve kraft pulp production facilities.
The plant's annual production will be increased by 30 000 tonnes to 255 000 tonnes by late 1996. About 20 percent of its output supplies Domtar's fine and specialty paper plants. The rest is sold to companies in Canada, the United States and Europe.
Domtar announced that a new legal entity, Norkraft Quévillon Inc., will own the plant. Domtar holds 90 percent of Norkraft and a new association of the plant's employees, the other 10 percent. Workers at the Lebel-sur-Quévillon plant recently signed a five-year collective agreement.
The unemployment rate in Québec dropped from 12 percent to 11.5 percent in February when 14,000 jobs were created, according to Statistics Canada.
The ratio of jobs to population, that is, the number of jobs available in relation to the population 15 years of age and over, was 55.5 percent in February, its highest level since November 1991.
"The manufacturing sector has 74 000 more jobs than it did at the same time last year. That's an increase of 14 percent, which is excellent news," said Québec Minister of Employment Louise Harel.
Statistics Canada indicated that Ontario lost 11 000 jobs in February, the Maritimes, 3 000 and Western Canada, 20 000.
The Edison Electric Institute of Washington, D.C. has selected Hydro-Québec as a finalist in the international category of its 1995 Edison Award because of Hydro's many technological breakthroughs in 1994 and its commitment to research and development.
The other nominees are Electricité de France and Iberdrola S.A. from Spain. Founded in 1933, the Edison Electric Institute regroups most of the privately-owned electric utilities in the United States.
In selecting Hydro-Québec as a finalist, EEI cited Hydro's unusually large number of achievements, including:
- The LANGUAGE Expert System
The key feature of this software is concise diagnosis of network alarm messages indicating the origin of a disturbance and its consequences. This enables control centre operators to make almost instantaneous decisions. LANGUAGE began to be implemented in 1994 at Hydro's regional control centres.
- The ACEP Lithium Polymer Cell
Hydro-Québec's research, co-financed by the United States Advanced Battery Consortium (USABC), in partnership with 3M (St. Paul, Minnesota) and Argonne National Laboratories (Chicago), is pursuing the development of a high-energy density battery which will be a key to the breakthrough of electric vehicles into the marketplace. Hundreds of lithium polymer cells were produced and tested at Hydro's bench scale production facilities in 1994.
- The Couture Powertrain (CPT)
A motor wheel prototype using the CPT was publicly unveiled in 1994. It represents an important step forward in electric vehicle transportation. The design capitalizes on advances in motor design, power electronics and software engineering. The series hybrid source consists of a high specific power battery pack and a small auxiliary power unit coupled to a generator which can either recharge the battery or power the 4 motor wheels directly.
- The Organic Electrosynthesis Program
In 1994, Hydro-Québec completed the pre-industrial phase of an anthraquinone derivatives pilot project which demonstrated that this technology can significantly reduce energy consumption involved in manufacturing a wide array of chemicals and pharmaceuticals. Agreements were signed with companies from Taiwan and China for the transfer of this breakthrough technology.
- The Droscar Technology
This new technology proven in 1994 uses a rotary arc furnace with graphite electrodes to recover aluminum from dross. This environmentally friendly, energy-efficient production method assures average aluminum recovery of 94 percent and an 18 to 75 percent increase in energy efficiency.
- The Euro-Québec-Hydro-Hydrogen Project
This joint project between the European Union, the Québec government and 60 industrial partners has invested $60 million in the largest and most ambitious hydrogen R & D program in the world. Hydro- Québec is co-manager. Two prototype buses that run on Hythane, a fuel mixture of hydrogen and natural gas, were developed in 1994 and will soon be in use on scheduled Montréal bus routes. Two contracts were also signed with the International Japanese WE-NET (World Energy Network).
- Noveler
Hydro-Québec negotiated a record 16 licensing agreements with affiliates and subsidiaries of its holding company, Noveler, as well with private firms in 1994. Product sales under these licenses were roughly $14 million and royalties, $1.5 million. One of the companies Noveler launched was Scompitech, a firm engaged in the manufacture of a new Hydro-Québec-developed robotic soldering system.
Hydro-Québec devotes almost 2 percent of its revenues to R & D, making it one of Canada's leaders. More than 800 Hydro-Québec employees work at its two major research sites: IREQ (Hydro-Québec Research Institute) in Varennes and LTEE (Hydro-Québec Laboratory of Electrochemical and Electrical Technologies) in Shawinigan.
Bank of Montreal and its Harris Bankcorp Inc. subsidiary in Chicago announced they will merge their foreign exchange operations on April 3, creating the largest foreign exchange operation in the Midwest and the fifth largest in the U.S., with 60 sales and trading specialists.
As a leader in world currency markets Bank of Montreal is at the forefront of developments in global foreign exchange, while Harris is considered a pioneer in 24-hour trading and has developed strengths in niche currencies. Together, their foreign exchange operations currently serve about one-third of the U.S.'s largest corporations in addition to their extensive middle market presence throughout the Midwest.
Bank of Montreal and Harris merged their smaller New York foreign exchange operations a few weeks ago. The bank offers the same service in Toronto, London and Singapore.
Malofilm Communications of Montréal, a producer and distributor of feature films, is venturing into the world of interactive animation. It announced it will buy Magatoon Entertainment, a Québec City company that makes interactive animated games, including Wallobee Jack, a best selling CD-ROM- based children's series, and Goferwinkel's Adventures, the world's first interactive comic book.
Megatoon employs 28 and is forecasting revenue of $2 million in 1995. It has distribution agreements with WordPerfect of the U.S. for the worldwide distribution of Wallobee Jack and with Gaga Communications, Japan's largest multimedia distributor. Megatoon will continue to operate from Québec City.
Malofilm has produced 26 feature films, among them Denys Arcand's critically and popularly acclaimed The Decline of the American Empire.
The Société du Palais des Congrès de Montréal and Boston's John B. Hynes Veterans Memorial Convention Center signed a cooperation agreement in Boston in early March. It is designed to promote the exchange of cultural and commercial information between the two organizations, promote their respective cities and convention facilities, and encourage international cooperation in the convention industry.
Among the dignitaries present at the ceremony were Montréal Mayor Pierre Bourque; Québec Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of International Affairs, Immigration and Cultural Communities, Bernard Landry; the president of the Greater Montréal convention and tourism office, Charles Lapointe; and the administrative director of the Massachusetts Convention Center Authority, Francis X. Joyce.
This is the second agreement of its kind for the Montréal convention centre. signed an agreement protocol with the Palais des Congrès of Paris in 1984. Montréal's Palais des Congrès is the leading convention centre in Canada and ranks third in North America.
Jurist and diplomat John Peter Humphrey, the founder and first director of the human rights division at the United Nations, died recently in Montréal at the age of 89.
A professor emeritus at the McGill University law school, Mr. Humphrey was the main drafter of the document that became the Universal Declaration of Human Rights which was adopted in 1948 by the United Nations, "humanity's Magna Carta", as he liked to call it.
John Peter Humphrey was part of the group that set up Amnesty International Canada. With McGill colleagues, he also created the Canadian Human Rights Foundation which, among its many activities, organizes an international seminar each summer for students and specialists. Mr. Humphrey frequently took part in international commissions of enquiry, such as the mission to the Philippines to investigate charges against the Marcos regime.
Charles Dutoit and the Montréal Symphony Orchestra's recording of Hector Berlioz's monumental opera Les Troyens has received two prestigious awards in Paris.
The first was one of the Académie française du Disque lyrique's 19 "Orphée" awards. The second was the Nouvelle Académie du Disque's "prize of prizes". Les Troyens is available on the Decca London label.
The dance-theatre company Carbone 14 directed by Gilles Maheu has been awarded the Grand Prix 1994 by the Montréal Urban Community's arts council.
Carbone 14 was selected because its work symbolizes "pure creation, avant-gardism and research at its best." Founded in 1975, the company has done more than any other, the council said, to make Québec theatre known abroad. Critics called Carbone 14's emotionally charged La Fôret (The Forest), created in 1994, "one of the finest productions ever seen in Montréal."
The Grand Prix comprises a $25 000 bursary and a commemorative work of art. The other finalists received $5 000. They were the Atelier circulaire (visual arts), the Compagnie Marie Chouinard (dance), the Académie des lettres du Québec (literature) and the Montréal Symphony Orchestra (music).
Mont Sainte-Anne near Québec City hosted the 40th annual congress of the SCIJ, the Ski Club International des journalistes, for a week in late March. Some 250 of its 2000 members from around the world attended.
Founded in 1955, the SCIJ promotes open exchanges between journalists from East and West and now from North and South. It meets yearly at different ski resorts for its congress as such and some skiing on the side. The journalists then visit nearby areas to cover public affairs, politics, the economy, tourism and culture. The post-congress visits this year included Montréal, Estrie, the Laurentians, Charlevoix and Northern Québec.
While in the Québec City area, the journalists were invited to view the proposed sites of the 2002 Winter Olympics.
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Janet Pernaa Coulombe
MAIICC, Direction des communications
Tel.: (418) 649-2345