 PETER BLACK Choosing Quebec's Big Money Pope
It's not exactly like choosing a new Pope, but historically speaking the elevation of a mortal to the top office of the Mouvement Desjardins is not without its religious significance; for he who is chairman of the Caisse is in effect the head of what once was the financial branch of Quebec's Roman Catholic Church.
The Mouvement Desjardins, otherwise known as les caisses populaires, is in the process of picking a new boss, just in time to lead centennial celebrations for the once humble, now mighty credit union network founded by former journalist and House of Commons Hansard scribe Alphonse Desjardins on December 6, 1900.
Chances are, though, that Desjardins wouldn't recognize the colossus that grew from the shaky little small town co-ops he founded as a means to liberate hard-working and frugal French Canadians from the flinty English tightwads who ran the country's banking system.
In fact, the caisse finds itself at a cross roads in its hundredth year, torn between the need to compete in the rugged world of globalizing finance, and serving its social mission, so entwined with the Catholic parochial tradition of Quebec.
In December, a congress of mouvement members voted overwhelmingly to cross the Rubicon and transform the caisse into a more streamlined banking institution by forming one big caisse from the constellation of federations.
Part of the project involves reducing the number of caisse branches from more than 1200 to 600. By the time the downsizing is finished in 2001, some 900 jobs, most of them in management, will disappear by way of attrition, from the caisse's 43,000-employee payroll.
That army of workers is the largest private sector workforce in the province. On top of that, the caisses have 5.6 million members in the province, which is extraordinary -- and curious -- in a place with a population of about 7.5 million.
The caisse is the largest financial institution in Quebec, with $71 billion in assets in the province alone. (It's still well behind the $100 billion Quebec pension plan "caisse," however, in terms of raw financial and investment clout).
It would be no exaggeration to say that the Caisse Pop has been the leading engine of economic growth for French-speaking Canadians since the movement really took off in the mid-20th century. Not only have the hundreds of parish branches lent money for countless homes and small businesses, they have been an essential breeding ground for the legions of entrepreneurs that blossomed into the phenomenon called Quebec Inc.
The Caisse Pop, though, has remained largely true to its roots as a community-based and volunteer-run institution. Thousands of ordinary Quebecers serve as board members for the caisse branches, providing familiar faces for local finance, working as much on the basis of trust and honesty as on collateral and references.
It is these volunteers, or at least their elected delegates, who will decide who will be chairman of the Caisse Pop. The job, complete with an estimated $600k annual salary, chauffeured limo, and automatic entree into the big leagues of finance, has drawn a crowd of seven candidates. Voting by the 239 delegates takes place on February 19 in Quebec City.
The man the candidates are vying to replace is Claude Beland, who, after 13 years at the helm, is taking retirement. His departure may mark the end of a rather politicized era in Caisse history, given Beland's eagerness to lend a hand to the cause of Quebec sovereignty.
This stance may have endeared him to Jacques Parizeau, but it didn't go over well with all Caisse officials. In fact, one of the leading candidates to replace Beland, Jocelyn Proteau from the Montreal federation, denounced the chairman's politics when he ran against Beland in 1997.
All candidates will have to deal with another issue besides the future mission of the Caisse Pop and that is keeping the head office in the revered Alphonse's home town of Levis, across the river from Quebec City. A recent study shows that already a large proportion of head office type jobs have shifted to the Caisse's huge Montreal complex. The grass roots of the movement, not to mention local officials, want that trend to be stopped and reversed.
At least that part of Alphonse Desjardins'down-home legacy seems sacred.
Copyright © 2000 Peter Black/Log Cabin Chronicles/01.2000 |
