Influential Quebec business people are mobilizing to participate in what is presented as the largest fundraising campaign ever conducted by a single hospital center in Quebec.

Charles Emond, Laurent Ferreira, Charles Brindamour and Paul Desmarais III are a few business leaders who have agreed to get involved with the CHU Sainte-Justine Foundation to co-chair the fundraising campaign aimed at raising at least a quarter of a billion dollars in over the next five years.

The “active” phase of the fundraising campaign officially kicks off on Tuesday as half of the overall goal of half a billion dollars has already been committed since the start of the “silent phase” of the campaign. five years ago.

In December, the CHU Sainte-Justine Foundation announced that it had received a $40 million donation from a couple. It was the largest donation ever made to a hospital center in Quebec.

The goal of raising a total of half a billion between 2018 and 2028 is described as “very ambitious” by Charles Brindamour, CEO of insurer Intact Financial Corporation and co-chair of the CHU Foundation’s fundraising campaign. Saint Justine.

“But you have to be ambitious in the current context,” he says, showing confidence that the goal will be achieved.

Charles Brindamour expects good public support because Sainte-Justine is an “essential” player in Quebec in pediatrics.

To achieve this ambitious goal, a campaign cabinet of about forty people including business people like Annick Guérard, Christiane Germain, Éric La Flèche, Mitch Garber, Michael Fortier and Pierre Pomerleau was formed.

Large companies will be particularly solicited. “Everyone has an interest in supporting an institution like Sainte-Justine. We will use all our relationships in the business world, with large families too, to raise awareness of the cause,” said Charles Brindamour.

“It’s a social project. Supporting children and families is the future of Quebec. »

The money raised must be used to offer a healthier future to the children of Quebec, in particular by advancing precision medicine and sustainable health, that is to say prevention. “Critical elements to the transformation of health in Quebec”, says Charles Brindamour.