Legault has ‘zero business sense,’ says Groupe Dynamite, Royalmount owner

Andrew Lutfy at the Royalmount, a luxury shopping centre in Montreal. (Source: Andrej Ivanov/Bloomberg)

A month after mentioning leaving Quebec, businessman Andrew Lutfy has returned to the fray with his criticism of the François Legault government.

“Let’s not forget all the big bets of recent years, which ended in failure and cost us Quebecers billions of dollars,” he said at a conference on Monday before the Canadian Club of Montreal. “To me, it’s mind-boggling.”

“When François Legault responds by saying ‘there are too many immigrants in Quebec,’ frankly, I have a hard time understanding him,” he said, parodying the premier’s voice. “He doesn’t get it.”

The head of retailer Groupe Dynamite and the Royalmount and Dix30 shopping centres had mentioned leaving Quebec because of immigration policies that prevented him from recruiting the specialized employees he needed. He made a plea in several media outlets at the end of September to make “his despair” heard.

Lutfy added fuel to the fire on Monday with some very harsh words for the premier. “I apologize, I know that he (Legault) worked in business at one point, but he has zero business sense, zero empathy for Quebecers,” he said during a press scrum on the sidelines of his conference.

During his presentation, he criticized “all political parties” that promise to reduce the administrative burden on businesses, while other issues are more urgent, in his opinion.

“If you think that reducing a form by a few pages will transform Quebec into a champion, you have a problem,” he told business leaders.

The CAQ could still be an interesting political vehicle, but Legault would have to not run in the next election, he said.

“In principle, it’s a coalition,” he said. “You never know who could (become leader of the CAQ).

“Maybe overnight, we could say, ‘Wow, that looks good.’ You change the three or four most important (ministerial) positions.”

Lufty also expressed concern about the economic repercussions of a third referendum on sovereignty if the Parti Québécois, which is ahead in the polls, wins the next election.

The businessman believes that Quebec’s economy has fallen behind because of the 1995 referendum.

“Even if it doesn’t pass, the referendum will certainly make (business people) think that Quebec is too risky,” he said.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published in French on Oct. 27, 2025.