Newsroom

16 September 2025

With a sharp gaze, in her forties, and ready to make Quebec shine, Caroline seemed to have it all: an innovative product, supportive investors, and loyal customers.

Yet she came to see me exhausted. “I don’t understand anymore,” she admitted. “We’re doing everything right, we’re exporting, but the State keeps blocking us. Endless permits, Kafkaesque forms, delays that cost me contracts. While I wait, my foreign competitors surge ahead.”

For someone working in government relations like me, Caroline embodies a familiar reality: entrepreneurs trapped in an administrative maze that eats away at their margins. Like many, she had underestimated the importance of her relationship with the State — and paid the price.

In Canadian politics, it doesn’t take long to hear about the two solitudes: anglophones and francophones. Two groups bound by destiny, yet often unable to understand one another. A third solitude has also been recognized: Indigenous peoples, long ignored and forced to live on the margins of the other two. After cultural and social solitudes, our era now seems to be marked by economic and political solitudes. And today, I would argue, a fourth solitude has emerged: the private sector.

This is not to equate the situation of Indigenous peoples with that of entrepreneurs, but to speak of political isolation. The truth is that entrepreneurs are often reduced to silence in our system. Not by choice, but because their needs are poorly understood. They speak a language the State does not hear, often caught in a well-oiled “industry of no” that blocks their projects — especially in Quebec. As a society, we can no longer ignore this phenomenon without paying the price ourselves.

In a world shaped by the rise of AI, geopolitical multipolarity, accelerated trade, and fierce international competition, States are reclaiming a central role. Everywhere, economic nationalism is on the rise: U.S. tariffs, tightened industrial policies in Europe despite conciliatory rhetoric, and the rigid demands of a China with hegemonic ambitions. In this context, governments are increasingly writing the rules of the game. For a private company, not being present at the table means accepting to play by rules written by others. It means resigning oneself to losing ground, while better-organized competitors capitalize on public policy.

More than two years ago, at Boléro, we made it our mission to be the unapologetic voice of private companies in front of governments. None of our clients come from the public or parapublic sphere. This deliberate choice allows us to avoid conflicts of interest and to defend the private sector without compromise.

Why?

Because companies need a direct voice. It is time to recognize that their interests are also collective: every job, every investment, every innovation is an act of public good. Private companies are not mere economic agents — they are social, regional, and human pillars.

It is also time to move beyond mistrust. The State is not the enemy of business, just as business is not the enemy of the State. They are partners bound by a shared destiny. Governments set the direction and protect the public interest. But without the contribution of the private sector, these directions remain wishful thinking — theoretical at best.

Caroline learned this too late. Her silence with the State cost her dearly. Too many companies are still making the same mistake. Even the most powerful face regulatory complexity, administrative delays, or political reversals. We aim to change that.

The fourth solitude often fights alone in the shadows, but its right to be heard by the State is as fundamental as that of any other force in society. This inalienable right must not be diminished or marginalized. We must work to break the isolation of the private sector on Parliament Hill, because every time a major project comes to life — whether from an SME or a Quebec flagship — the benefits go far beyond shareholders and executives. They extend to employees, their families, their communities, and society as a whole.

Let us not forget: without the fourth solitude, the other three will crumble.

Bruno Leblanc
President
Boléro Stratégies