July 2018

180 181 it inclusive for the whole community, not just the elite.As Parent says,“This is a facility de- signed for ages 0 to 105–we have a tendency to live old here.” Jean Pierre Ouellet is the rector at UQAR, and heavily involved in the University’s col- laboration with the sports complex.He notes, “We will have access to a laboratory within the complex and we’ll use that to develop a kinesiology health program around physical activity; assessing physical fitness through research at this facility. It’s tightly linked to the University, so it will become an asset for us to attract new students.” In addition to municipal, provincial, and federal financing, the complex was also funded by Desjardins.The company’s $4 million contribution to the project earned them naming rights and tremendous thanks from the community. Telus Canada is the region’s fiber optic provider. By the end of the summer, 99 per- cent of the population will be connected to fiber optic, allowing access to 1GB per second upload/download speed.The Rimouski area is far exceeding internet capacity currently avail- able in Montreal,Vancouver, or Calgary.Not only will residents benefit, all of the industrial parks, the University, and health sector now have access, as well. Parent explains,“Telus Quebec has a huge base of operations here, with 1400 workers.They rolled out Telus TV in Rimouski and they’re doing the same for fiber optic. It’s a great asset for us to have this huge corporate partner based in our city.According to Telus,we’re the most connected region in Canada right now.That’s their official line.” VILLE DE RIMOUSKI, QUEBEC Health services and related businesses are ma- jor employers.There are 8,000 workers in health services in the lower St. Lawrence region; many of those in Rimouski at the area’s original health- care center.Telus is the next largest employer with 1,400, and a couple other companies have 700 to 1,000. Rimouski also has a vibrant SME economy with several industries in the range of 50 to 200 employees.The University has 500 full-time em- ployees, and 600 global researchers in Marine Sci- ence work at the three maritime research centres: the Institut des sciences de la mer, (marine sciences institute); the Institut maritime du Québec, (Quebec maritime institute); and the Maurice Lamontagne Institute (Canadian government marine sciences research center).Hydro-Québec’s regional service centre, the courthouse, and federal and provincial agencies add to employment numbers in the ser- vices sector. Agribusiness, biomass exploitation, applied forestry technologies, sustainable development, environmental industries, and new information and communication technologies (NICT) complete the economic diversity.Twenty-nine percent of Rimous- ki residents between 25 and 64 hold university degrees; seventy-two percent hold post-secondary qualifications. Parent says,“Thanks to the University, we have a large number of highly-trained human resources, so our population is growing–rather un- usual for the rural part of Quebec,which is a great thing.And the jobs we are creating are good quality requiring a high skill level. Right now,we’re recruit- ing a lot of specialists in IT platforms.” Ouellet adds,“The city itself is highly educated