Evidence of meeting #36 for International Trade in the 45th Parliament, 1st session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was companies.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Liberal
Linda Lapointe Liberal Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, QC
Thank you very much.
Earlier, I believe you talked about trust and mutual understanding. Does French help, does it make things easier in terms of the things we want to explore?
President and Chief Executive Officer, 6temik
It's fundamental, in my opinion. We must take advantage of the fact that we are part of the francophonie. The strength of the francophonie is that it creates….
My company is in Morocco. I find it extraordinary that people in offices in Casablanca can work with my teams and with our clients in Montreal.
Liberal
Linda Lapointe Liberal Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, QC
Thank you. My time is coming to an end and I would like to hear Ms. Vachon's answer.
President, Réseau des Femmes d'affaires du Québec
I will follow up on what Ms. Elmallem said.
Sometimes, the instinct is to turn to France. We may speak French but that does not mean that our languages are very close. I find that our culture is close to African culture in many cases. We communicate more easily with many countries in Africa.
President, Réseau des Femmes d'affaires du Québec
We have a lot of people in Morocco, a lot of people in Tunisia or Algeria, but it is very difficult—
Liberal
Simon-Pierre Savard-Tremblay Bloc Saint-Hyacinthe—Bagot—Acton, QC
Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you for joining us today, my dear witnesses, and thank you for your presentations.
Ms. Vachon, you represent the Réseau des Femmes d'affaires du Québec. That's like the business situation in the whole of Quebec, but with its special aspects.
You mentioned business opportunities and you made a presentation on Africa, among other things. Is there anything that sticks out in terms of businesswomen and Africa in particular?
President, Réseau des Femmes d'affaires du Québec
We go where the opportunities are. We feel that there is a lot of space for our businesswomen in Africa. I would not say that it is because of the maturity of African companies—our companies are more mature than theirs—but, in terms of their production, we can see that a lot of women are in the agri-food industry. So it is very important and very helpful for us to create links with a number of countries in Africa, Côte d'Ivoire among them.
We are seeking to grow our companies. We do not want to invest time in Africa without a return. I speak for Quebec, but we work with Canadian companies too. We are trying to establish reciprocity in our trading.
Bloc
Simon-Pierre Savard-Tremblay Bloc Saint-Hyacinthe—Bagot—Acton, QC
You are part of the Femmes d'affaires du Québec, are you not?
President, Réseau des Femmes d'affaires du Québec
Our organization is called the Réseau des Femmes d'affaires du Québec.
Bloc
Simon-Pierre Savard-Tremblay Bloc Saint-Hyacinthe—Bagot—Acton, QC
Your very name contains the word Quebec, and that does not bother me one bit.
A good part of Africa is French-speaking. The francophonie is exploding demographically. Does that make your task easier?
President, Réseau des Femmes d'affaires du Québec
Yes, it does make the task easier. That's where our interest in Africa comes from. Most women in Quebec are really good at doing business in French. As I said earlier, we certainly try to go where our governments go, whether Quebec or Ottawa, and to where our partners are. The aim is to lead our women to where we feel there are possibilities in which they may be interested.
Bloc
Simon-Pierre Savard-Tremblay Bloc Saint-Hyacinthe—Bagot—Acton, QC
In that context, we know that the culture of Quebec companies is generally marked by respect, even solidarity. We are like that with fellow Quebeckers. Even in the regions, we see that, if a company only wants to make money and does not work with others, it will generally be ignored. It won't even be sustainable. That's certainly the case in my Maskoutan community. We see it everywhere. If a company decides not to share the solidarity, it will be excluded from the group quite quickly. Our approach, then, is one of respect, but in Africa, they play hardball. Russian and Chinese companies, for example, can be very competitive and aggressive.
Can we survive in those shark-infested waters?
President, Réseau des Femmes d'affaires du Québec
We must not see things that way. We are not looking to do business with governments or with large companies in Africa. We are looking to do business with companies owned by African women. Above all, we have to sow seeds that will bear fruit when they come up in five or six years.
We know that we are doing business with small companies. I cannot help them to grow by taking them right to General Motors tomorrow morning. I have to help them to grow one step at a time, which is the kind of community that our businesswomen find very appealing.
We have been talking about Quebec, but Canada is also at the table. The quality you mention is one that I see particularly among women. We are looking for reciprocity and mutual benefits. We create links with the government through our governments, whether that's Quebec or Ottawa. We do not make agreements directly with those governments.
Bloc
Simon-Pierre Savard-Tremblay Bloc Saint-Hyacinthe—Bagot—Acton, QC
I understand about the agreements, but the market there is filled by powers that are aggressively competitive.
Do you see any danger on the horizon? I understand the rewards, but are there risks too?
President, Réseau des Femmes d'affaires du Québec
When I get up in the morning, I don't see a lot of danger in my life. Maybe that's my problem.
Bloc
Simon-Pierre Savard-Tremblay Bloc Saint-Hyacinthe—Bagot—Acton, QC
At least you are honest.
Several times, out of the corner of my eye, I have seen Ms.….
Bloc
Simon-Pierre Savard-Tremblay Bloc Saint-Hyacinthe—Bagot—Acton, QC
Yes, I can see you nodding, Ms. Elmallem.
Would you like to add something?
President and Chief Executive Officer, 6temik
I agree completely with Ms. Vachon. Honestly, I can't talk about things being aggressively competitive. I have been doing business in that part of the world since 2005 or 2006 and I have never seen anything that is aggressively competitive.
There is competition. That's important. We have to be competitive ourselves in Canada. We have the opportunity to get out of our comfort zone. We are used to the comfort zone being North American. It takes effort to leave one's comfort zone and that's what we need to do. The global market is competitive. But I have never seen aggressive competition. Yes, we have to be competitive and we are not always.
Bloc
Simon-Pierre Savard-Tremblay Bloc Saint-Hyacinthe—Bagot—Acton, QC
Do you have the same problem as Ms. Vachon? Do you see danger all around when you get up in the morning?
