Power Corp.’s Andre Desmarais, left, and Paul Desmarais Jr. are shown in this 2014 file photo.Peter McCabe/The Canadian Press
A study of directorships at Quebec Inc.'s biggest publicly listed companies reveals that some of the province's best-known firms are not necessarily the best connected.
The report – by the Institut de recherche et d'informations socio-économiques (IRIS) – looked at the directors on the boards of the 30 biggest companies in Quebec, including Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc., National Bank of Canada, Bombardier Inc., Power Corp., Metro Inc. and Quebecor Inc., between 2004 and 2012.
Author Audrey Laurin-Lamothe singled out an "elite" of 37 influential directors by mapping out who are the most connected, using data from BoardEx, a firm that tracks how organizations manage their so-called "relationship capital."
Somewhat to her surprise, Ms. Laurin-Lamothe found that some seemingly bedrock members of Quebec Inc. – notably Couche-Tard, Quebecor and its television subsidiary TVA – are in "relative isolation" given that their directors "are not part of the people who are the most central to the network."
Quebecor, the media empire of entrepreneur-turned-separatist-politician Pierre Karl Péladeau, is "relatively marginal in relation to the heart of the [high-influence] network," Ms. Laurin-Lamothe writes.
Not so surprisingly, she confirmed how much of a boys' club this uber-network of directors is: Of the 37 influential board members, only six were women.
The companies whose boards boasted the largest number of power directors over the 2004-2012 period were National Bank with 10, followed by BCE Inc., Power and supermarket chain Metro Inc., with seven each.
Each of these companies functioned as a kind of hub "around which many other companies gravitate," Ms. Laurin-Lamothe said.
The top five corporate directors, based on number of connections:
1. Robert Chevrier, chairman of Rona Inc.
2. André Bérard, former president, chief executive officer and chairman of National Bank
3. Denis Désautels, businessman, former auditor-general of Canada
4. Jerry Nickerson, director at several Power-controlled companies
5. André Desmarais, president and co-CEO of Power