Small business loans in Quebec: the government programs

Quebec’s provincial financing agency is Investissement Québec (IQ), governed by the Act respecting Investissement Québec. This page covers Quebec only and reads three IQ pages that matter to someone buying or selling a business: the Prêt pour achat ou vente d’entreprise, the guarantee on loans and lines of credit, and the Fonds de transfert d’entreprise du Québec. IQ publishes these pages in French, so the terms below are given in English with the French name beside them. Program terms come from the pages as they read on October 25, 2026, and they change. The aim is to tell you which questions to put to IQ, not to say what IQ will approve.

What the Act gives Investissement Québec

The Act respecting Investissement Québec says the Company supports the creation and development of enterprises of all sizes through consulting services for entrepreneurs and other support measures, and through adapted financial solutions and investments. Section 9 says the Company determines the range of financial services it will offer enterprises, and that those services must include loans and suretyships, investment, and technical services, in particular in financial analysis, credit arrangement and portfolio management. Section 10 says that in setting those services the Company tries to complement the services offered by other public bodies, private-sector financial institutions and other partners. The programs below are IQ’s own offers under that mandate. The Act itself does not set their terms.

The purchase-or-sale loan

IQ’s Prêt pour achat ou vente d’entreprise page is addressed to anyone who sells or buys a business. To be eligible, the business must be established in Quebec and have a positive financial contribution for Quebec, and it must also be registered with the Registraire des entreprises du Québec, keep its head office, a place of business where strategic decisions are made, and its intellectual property rights related to its Quebec activities in Quebec, and not move a significant part of its assets outside Quebec. All sectors are eligible except those the page names, among them accounting firms, finance and insurance, and legal services. Other sectors are subject to restrictions: the page lists agriculture and fishing, cannabis and industrial hemp, private medical clinics, owner-occupied real estate, tourism, and direct-to-consumer (B2C) sales, including retail. The page states a minimum project amount, with a lower minimum for collective entrepreneurship, says a moratorium is possible, and notes that conditions may apply and that security and guarantees (sûretés et cautions) may be required. If your business is in a restricted sector, ask IQ how the restriction applies before you build a financing plan around this loan.

The guarantee on another lender’s loan

IQ’s guarantee page says IQ can guarantee the loans and lines of credit that other financial institutions grant. The guarantee is offered to the financial institution that grants you a loan, a line of credit or a letter of credit. The page lists working capital financing, fixed-asset financing and operating lines of credit among the items the guarantee can cover, with a guarantee rate range it states, and says movable or immovable security and guarantees may be required. Because the guarantee is offered to the institution that grants the loan, the loan itself comes from that institution, not from IQ. Ask your lender whether it uses IQ guarantees and whether your purchase would be a loan it is willing to bring to IQ.

The Fonds de transfert d’entreprise du Québec

IQ’s page for the Fonds de transfert d’entreprise du Québec describes a term loan to the successor (releveur), sized in proportion to the capital the buyer (repreneur) invests, within a minimum and a maximum the page states. To benefit from the Fund, the successor undertakes to work full time in the business and to inject a minimum down payment. The page also sets a maximum loan term and a maximum moratorium on principal repayment, which may be extended in return for a higher interest rate, and it says no moratorium can be granted to an individual (particulier). All sectors are eligible except real estate and transactions for the acquisition of farmland. The transaction must include minimum participation by Investissement Québec or the Fonds de solidarité FTQ, directly or indirectly through an associated company, and the page says that participant must take part in financing the buying business as a lender or investor.

What to ask before you rely on any of them

The IQ page on the purchase-or-sale loan also notes that businesses not eligible for the programs of La Financière agricole du Québec could benefit from IQ financing, which matters if you are looking at a farm. The federal Canada Small Business Financing Program is a separate national program, and its guidelines state that the Canada Small Business Financing Act aims to increase the availability of financing to establish, expand and modernize Canadian small businesses. What a given loan may pay for is covered in what a small business loan can be used for. Questions to put to IQ and to your lender:

• Does my sector appear in the excluded list or in the restricted list on IQ’s purchase-or-sale loan page?
• Does the project meet the minimum project amount the page states for my situation?
• Will my lender request an IQ guarantee, and what part of the loan would it cover?
• Does the transaction include the minimum participation by IQ or the Fonds de solidarité FTQ that the transfer fund requires?
• If I am buying as an individual, how does the no-moratorium rule affect my repayment schedule?