One Hundred Twenty-fifth Anniversary of the Desjardins Group

Honourable senators, I rise today to speak to Senator Moncion’s inquiry marking the one hundred and twenty-fifth anniversary of the Desjardins Group, the first savings and credit cooperative in North America.

Colleagues, I want to echo all the praise expressed by my colleagues regarding this Quebec financial institution’s important role in providing access to credit on favourable terms, as well as in helping empower francophones in the world of finance.

Rather than repeating what my colleagues have said, allow me to share with you a more personal perspective based on my own experience and my personal connection with the Desjardins Group.

I’m the youngest son in a family of eight children. My mother was in charge of the family finances, and she taught me the virtues of saving very early on, when I was in primary school. She encouraged me to take the wages I earned as an altar boy and deposit them with the credit union branch in Saint-Marc-des-Carrières, a place that Senator Petitclerc is very familiar with.

What a surprise it was to discover, at the end of the first year, that the balance in my savings booklet was higher than the sum of the small deposits I had made throughout the year, not only because of the interest paid, but also, of course, because of the famous dividend. The budding economist in me caught the economics and finance bug.

Honourable senators, you can easily imagine the joy and pride I felt upon completing my university degree in economics when I was hired as an economist by Desjardins to work at the head office of the Fédération des Caisses populaires in Lévis.

At that time, Desjardins Group’s total assets amounted to barely $10 billion, compared to more than $500 billion today.

What a relief it also was for my parents — who were farmers and had made great sacrifices to pay for my education — to see their youngest child land a job at the credit union’s head office in Lévis, without necessarily being able to explain in detail to their friends or family members what an economist actually did on a daily basis. This pedagogical challenge still exists today.

Later in my career, I had the opportunity to serve on the board of directors of the Caisse populaire de Lauzon. It was there that I saw first-hand the Desjardins Group’s strong commitment, not only to local economic development, but also to supporting community organizations.

As a director, the credit union manager made it clear to me at my first board meeting that the important thing for most members wasn’t the number of loans approved in a year, or the size of our assets, but the social balance sheet. It was common in the regions for bank branches to refuse to sponsor or donate to local community activities. A credit union refusing a request from a non-profit to organize a cultural sports event, however, was unthinkable.

Twenty-seven years later, I could tell that the Desjardins Group was struggling under a serious lack of visibility and recognition here, in Ottawa.

When I worked as a special adviser with the federal Department of Finance in 2008-2009, to my great surprise, I noticed that some public servants were unaware that Desjardins was the largest financial institution in Quebec in terms of its market share.

This isn’t meant to blame or criticize the federal civil service or our public officials; rather, it’s a result that can be explained by the fact that the Desjardins Group rarely appears on Ottawa’s radar, since it isn’t subject to federal regulation.

It was a great source of satisfaction for me to be able to convince my new boss at the time, Tiff Macklem, who was then the Associate Deputy Minister of Finance, at the beginning of the 2008-09 financial crisis, to invite a representative from the Desjardins Group to join the special round table made up of Export Development Canada, the Business Development Bank of Canada and the Bank of Canada.

So as not to offend anyone, we had to call the Quebec finance minister to get his permission for Desjardins to be at the table.

This is a reflection of our federal system, which involves shared financial responsibilities.

It’s worth noting that the Desjardins Group is highly respected internationally. It is often approached by leaders in developing countries to help set up credit unions to promote local economic development for the benefit of the community.

As Quebec’s minister of economic development and, in that capacity, the minister responsible for cooperatives, I had the opportunity to witness the appeal of the Desjardins Group during my annual visits to Davos.

After all, Quebec is recognized as the birthplace of the cooperative model in North America.

In closing, the Desjardins Group’s continued success is a testament to the fact that its mission to promote personal and mutual responsibility, democracy, equality, fairness and solidarity is just as relevant today as it was at the beginning of the last century.

I wish the Desjardins Group a long and prosperous future. Thank you for your attention.