Press release
The 2007 edition of the Board of Trade of Metropolitan Montreal's
Operation Back to School: An on-going success story!
Montréal, May 3, 2007 The spotlights have dimmed on the 11th edition of the Board of Trade of Metropolitan Montreal's Operation Back to School, and the reviews are in: by all accounts, it was a resounding success! Over the past month, this initiative, aiming to raise student awareness of the importance of staying in school and earning a high school diploma, allowed us to demonstrate once again our commitment to young people in the third, fourth, and fifth year of high school. The participation of secondary schools and members of the Greater Montréal business community was among the strongest to date.
This year, we are proud to have included more than 300 student groups and 300 speakers in this unifying project, wherein the business and education communities can pride themselves on working together to promote the academic achievement of young Montrealers. This is a major issue since it targets the training of a skilled labour force a vital factor in the competitiveness and growth of Greater Montréal and the entire province, declared Isabelle Hudon, president and CEO of the Board of Trade.
The young people were privileged to hear the testimonials of speakers from a wide range of backgrounds such as the patron of this year's Operation, Elliot Lifson, chairman of the Board of Trade of Metropolitan Montreal, and vice-chairman of Vêtements Peerless Clothing Inc., François Bouilhac, Assistant Deputy Minister of Economic Development, Innovation, and Export Trade; Denis Lavoie, Mayor of the city of Chambly, Benoit Labonté, Mayor of the Ville-Marie borough, François Lemarchand, Senior Vice-President of Bombardier Inc., Gerry Frappier, President and CEO of Réseau des sports (RDS); and Johanne Savard, Ombudsman for the City of Montréal.
Each in their own way, all of these individuals shared their passion while doing their best to address the concerns of young people. I would therefore like to express my heartfelt appreciation to everyone who participates in this initiative each year not forgetting this year's two spokespersons: Marianne Moisan and Antoine Mongrain, hosts of the program R-Force on VRAK.TV, added Hudon.
There can be no doubt that these speakers achieved something important that could change the lives of some young people and inspire others while at the same time gaining enormous satisfaction from their experience, which enabled them to renew contact with the educational environment and, above all, take stock of the enormous potential of the next generation, concluded Hudon.
Operation Back to School is made possible through the contribution of the Fonds Ville-Marie. The Board of Trade would also like to thank the Comptables agréés de Montréal for awarding a bursary to one of the students participating in this program.
The Board of Trade of Metropolitan Montreal has some 7,000 members. Its mission is to represent the interests of the business community of Greater Montreal and to provide individuals, merchants and businesses of all sizes with a variety of specialized services to help them achieve their full potential in terms of innovation, productivity and competitiveness. The Board of Trade is the largest private organization in Quebec dedicated to economic development.
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Source:
Sylvie Paquette
Coordinator, Media relations
Board of Trade of Metropolitan Montreal
Tel.: (514) 871-4000, ext. 4015
sylvie.paquette@ccmm.qc.ca