Biopterre-Centre de developpement des bioproduits Receives $678,960 From Government of Canada to Increase its Molecular Farming Activities

LA POCATIÈRE, QUEBEC--(Marketwire - March 15, 2011) - Bernard Généreux, Member of Parliament for Montmagny–L'Islet–Kamouraska–Rivière-du-Loup, today announced, on behalf of the Honourable Denis Lebel, Minister of State for Canada Economic Development, that Biopterre – Centre de développement des bioproduits will receive $678,960 in non-repayable funding under the Temporary Initiative for the Strengthening of Quebec's Forest Economies (TISQFE), to acquire sophisticated equipment adapted to the fields of molecular biology in order to increase its molecular farming activities.

"The Government of Canada is proud to lend its support to Biopterre. Its many projects will create new development opportunities for Bas-Saint-Laurent RCMs left vulnerable by the forestry crisis and help them achieve economic diversification," noted MP Généreux.

Biopterre boasts the first laboratory in Quebec that specializes in molecular farming. It is integrated with a Centre collégial de transfert de technologie, an organization under the authority of a CEGEP, which is open to enterprises. Thanks to high-performance equipment, it will be better able to guide agro-processing and forestry industry SMEs on technology transfers.

The laboratory is working to strengthen firms' innovation capacity and support SMEs looking to grow their business and development on the molecular potential of plants. Biopterre believes its project will help it continue to play a leadership role in the development of bioproducts in Quebec and expects it to create three skilled jobs.

About the TISQFE

In force since last June, the Temporary Initiative for the Strengthening of Quebec's Forest Economies was established to help communities affected by the forestry crisis diversify their economies in order to secure their development and create and maintain employment. The measure's aim is also to support the viability and sustainable growth of the small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in these communities.

This measure is one of many put in place by the Government of Canada in recent months to counteract the effects of the forest crisis. Others include the two-year $1 billion Community Adjustment Fund to mitigate the impacts of the crisis, the $1 billion granted to the Pulp and Paper Green Transformation Program, to help enterprises carry out environmentally-friendly projects, and the investment of $230 million in collaboration with the Government of Quebec for silvicultural work and the restoration of bridges and culverts on multi-use forest roads. Workers have also benefited from their fair share of support, with the Government of Canada introducing some of the most generous measures in history to help them through the economic crisis.

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