MONTREAL – The man who built Videotron into the third-largest cable company in Canada will receive the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year 2005 Lifetime Achievement Award in October.
Chagnon (after selling his company for over $5 billion) continues to make significant contributions in Québec by leading the organization he founded to help children in need.
Just this week, he pledged $400 million to tackle child obesity in the province of Quebec.
The award will be presented to Mr. Chagnon at a ceremony and banquet in Montréal on October 25.
“Mr. Chagnon showed an unparalleled dedication to the business he built, Le Groupe Vidéotron, and still demonstrates this passion and commitment through Fondation Lucie et André Chagnon. His ambitious initiatives have had a tremendous impact on Québec’s economic and social development," says François Dufresne, partner at Ernst & Young and director of the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year awards program in Québec, in the press release.
"As a technology innovator, Mr. Chagnon shaped Canada’s cable industry, and he is now devoted to finding original ideas to promote health, prevent disease and reduce poverty in families, through the foundation he created. He is a shining example of all that entrepreneurs can accomplish."
The son of an electrician, Chagnon launched Chagnon Electric in 1957. Sold seven years later to his employees, the company continues to thrive. In 1964, Mr. Chagnon founded Le Groupe Vidéotron, which he grew into a major communications powerhouse. He sold the company in 2000, turning his full-time attention to establishing Fondation Lucie et André Chagnon, which has helped some 30,000 children in underprivileged neighbourhoods.
In 1995, he was one of the four industrial leaders invited by the Government of Canada to take part in the G-7 Ministerial Conference on the Information Society, held in Brussels. In the same year, he was named to the Information Highway Advisory Council. He has been an officer of the Order of Canada since 1993, and was inducted into the Canadian Business Hall of Fame in 2002. Mr. Chagnon’s outstanding efforts through his foundation were recognized in 2003 when he was named a co-recipient of the Medal for Exceptional Contributions to Early Childhood Development, awarded by the Centre of Excellence for Early Childhood Development.
Now in its 12th year in Canada, the Entrepreneur Of The Year program was founded by Ernst & Young to celebrate great entrepreneurs and heighten awareness of the positive economic impact of entrepreneurial ventures.
The Entrepreneur Of The Year awards banquet for the Québec region will be held in Montréal at the Sheraton Centre on Tuesday, October 25, 2005.
