In Montreal, the French are more attracted to the Quebec experience

LETTER FROM MONTREAL

Early in the morning, the kitchen was alight in Montreal's working-class neighborhood of Hochelaga-Maisonneuve. The “battle” of knives cutting vegetables interrupts the conversation of about 20 people sitting at the stove. Some are moms, others are interns who come together to cook “as a family” to reduce the cost of take-home meals. Formerly homeless people, unemployed single mothers, autistic teenagers and newly displaced people – all far from the job market – are taking part in a six-month training program at Tagamdar, which helps them find work as cooks or waiters.

For the last 10 years, the Frenchman Benoist de Peyrelong, 54 years old, has been at the helm of this socio-economic enterprise. Having settled in Montreal since 2009, he comes with a professional culinary diploma and experience in the restaurant and hotel business. Here he renewed his professional life. “In France, even if I had the social inclination to do something else, they'd ask me to go back to school and at least get an MBA in management,” joked the man who runs a team of about 40 employees. Manages an annual budget of 4.5 million Canadian dollars (3 million euros). “In Quebec, no matter what your previous career path is, they believe in you. You're only limited by yourself,” he said.

A special attraction

On January 10, the French consulate in Montreal announced that “the 200,000 mark has just been passed”: this record shows the extraordinary attraction of the Quebec metropolis. This French community, the largest outside Europe, contributes to the city's economic dynamism. French companies such as Alstom, Air Liquide, BNP and Accuracy attract expatriates eager to live the “Québec experience.”

Bakeries and pastry shops run by the “Frenchmen of France,” as they are known here, have long permeated the Montreal suburbs with the smell of “real” bread and pastries. But French workers are now present in all fields of activity, and many of them are discovering an “entrepreneurial spirit” quite different from that of France.

Adrien Peirache, 42, followed the typical career path of a young neuroscience researcher. He attended engineering school in France, completed his doctorate in New York, and in 2016 applied to the prestigious English-speaking McGill University in Montreal. As soon as he was hired, he was awarded $1 million (€700,000) to conduct research on neural circuits in his 15-person lab. Now he has to learn how to raise the necessary funds for the development of his projects.

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