CEDEC's Collaborative Economic Development Dialogues

Charting a Course to Tangible Economic Benefits for English-speakers and their Communities

The Community Economic Development and Employability Corporation (CEDEC) is the designated and federally funded Official Language Minority Community organization in Quebec (OLMCQ), responsible for economic development, including business, labour market, and employment assistance development.

Recognizing the complex interplay of global, national, provincial, and local dynamics that shape Quebec’s economy, CEDEC champions a knowledge-based approach to Collaborative Economic Development. It established the Economic and Labour Market Development Applied Research Program (ELMDARP) to provide the OLMCQ and the broader Quebec society with relevant and timely knowledge about promising collaborative economic development opportunities.

A prime example of this approach is the recently completed series of nine Collaborative Economic Development Dialogues (CEDDs), carefully designed and expertly facilitated by CEDEC’s senior researchers. Conducted between November 2024 and June 2025, the CEDDs fall squarely within the scope of the ELMDARP, embodying its core principles of private, public, and civil society (PPCS) collaboration, innovation, and evidence-based decision-making.

The Genesis of the CEDDs: Building on the OQEL Foundation

The CEDDs were built upon CEDEC’s major economic study, the Overview of Quebec’s Economic Landscape (OQEL). The OQEL identified key trends shaping Quebec’s economy:

Artificial Intelligence and digital technology
The green economy
Shifting Demographics and a Changing Labour Market

The insights from the OQEL served as crucial inputs for the design of the CEDDs, ensuring they focused on exploring relevant economic development opportunities emerging in Quebec.

A Deep Dive into the CEDDs: Themes, Participants, and Key Objectives

Each of the nine dialogues explicitly focused on identifying and framing two to three promising collaborative economic development opportunities in a specific economic sector that could create jobs, develop businesses and social enterprises, increase trade, and attract investments.

They brought together community leaders, service providers, economic development experts, entrepreneurs, business and social enterprise leaders, technology experts, and representatives from industry associations to ensure a diverse and representative range of knowledgeable perspectives. This multi-stakeholder approach was crucial in fostering a shared understanding of promising Collaborative Economic Development opportunities and how to best capitalize on them.

Individual CEDDs integrated OQEL findings with the perspectives, experiences, and expertise of a diverse group of participants. This qualitative research inquiry enabled stakeholders to engage in a more relevant and concrete discussion on how to create tangible economic benefits for individuals in their communities.

The specific economic development themes explored in the CEDDs were as follows:

Increasing Agricultural Yields through the Adoption of Digital and AI Technologies
Enhancing the Adoption of Digital and AI Technologies in Tourism
Increasing Retail Sales by Adopting E-Commerce, particularly in Rural Communities
Developing Businesses, Social Enterprises, and Entrepreneurs in the Care Economy
Contributing to Quebec’s Green Economy
Providing Affordable Housing
Keeping Seniors Actively Engaged in Quebec’s Labor Market
Enhancing the Labour Market Participation of English-speaking immigrants
Improving English-speaking Graduates’ Entry into Quebec’s Labour Market

Some Initial Opportunity Highlights: A Glimpse into the Future

The CEDDs yielded a wealth of insights, which are currently being analyzed and assessed. They identified several promising opportunities for Collaborative Economic Development:

Expanding the application of digital technology and AI solutions in various sectors, including agriculture, tourism, e-commerce, and workforce development
Expanding tourism in less-visited areas to boost local economies
Creating and scaling shared digital infrastructure and collaborative platforms
Strengthening local, regional, and provincial supply chains
Creating and expanding social enterprises in care services
Expanding affordable and sustainable housing

Translating CEDD Insights into Action: The Flagship Report

CEDEC is leveraging CEDD data to develop a Flagship Report. This report will serve as a roadmap for the next couple of years, outlining a series of specific opportunities that the public, private, and civil society sectors can pursue together to generate tangible economic benefits for individuals and their communities. All CEDD participants will be invited to a workshop in the Fall to help ensure that the roadmap is deliberate, targeted, and structured to monitor progress and success.

As a strategic, partnership-driven process that emphasizes shared goals, expertise, resource pooling, and coordinated efforts to create sustainable economic opportunities, Collaborative Economic Development is building economic development capacity throughout the OLMCQ. The CEDDs serve as a powerful example of how this unique approach to economic development enables the OLMCQ to capitalize on current economic opportunities while proactively shaping its future contributions to Quebec’s economic growth.