SAINT-THOMAS-DIDYME, QUEBEC--(Marketwire - Feb. 21, 2013) - The Honourable Denis Lebel, Minister of Transport, Infrastructure and Communities and Minister of the Economic Development Agency of Canada for the Regions of Quebec, announces that the Coopérative de solidarité du Lac-à-Jim has been awarded financial assistance to improve its facilities.

"The Government of Canada is pleased to lend its financial support to the Lac-à-Jim Coop because it will help develop new markets and diversify the Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean economy," said Minister Lebel.

The Coopérative de solidarité du Lac-à-Jim wants to make this already enchanting tourist site even more appealing. The project primarily involves acquiring three new cottages, including a floating cottage, creating a multipurpose community hall, retrofitting the reception pavilion and developing a marketing strategy. These improvements, particularly those to the hospitality building and cottages, will at the same enhance the quality of the regional tourism offering.

About the Temporary Initiative for the Strengthening of Quebec's Forest Economies (TISQFE)

This financial assistance has been granted in the form of a $199,380 non-repayable contribution through Canada Economic Development's Temporary Initiative for the Strengthening of Quebec's Forest Economies (TISQFE).

The TISQFE was brought into force in June 2010 to help communities affected by the forestry crisis diversify their economies in order to ensure their growth and create and maintain employment. The initiative's goal is also to support secondary and tertiary wood processing projects in these communities.

This measure is one of several put in place by the Government of Canada to counteract the effects of the forest crisis. Others include the Community Adjustment Fund, with its $1-billion budget over two years to mitigate the impact 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 $238 million invested, in collaboration with the Government of Quebec, for silvicultural work and the maintenance of multi-use forest roads. Workers have also received their fair share of support, with the Government of Canada introducing numerous measures to help them through the global economic crisis.

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