The 7 richest people in Quebec are worth $54B — Here's how they made their fortunes
Quebec is home to plenty of successful business owners, but only a small group reaches the kind of wealth where your net worth has a "B" after it.
According to Maclean's newly released 2025 Rich List, seven Quebecers (and their families) are among the 40 richest people in Canada — and together, they're worth just over $54 billion. The ranking focuses only on publicly accessible financial data, and Maclean's even calls its estimates "conservative," meaning the real totals could be higher.
At the national level, Canada's 10 richest people are now worth a combined $310 billion, a jump of nearly 20% in just one year. Quebec doesn’t dominate the top of the list, but the province still has some heavy-hitters whose companies shaped entire industries, from pharmacies and convenience stores to aerospace, dairy, and financial services.
Here's a rundown of Quebec's richest families and how they built (or expanded) their empires.
7. Jacques D'Amours
Net worth: $4.8B (40th in Canada)
Jacques D'Amours is one of the four co-founders behind Alimentation Couche-Tard, the convenience-store giant that now operates more than 17,000 locations across 29 countries. Over three decades, he climbed from technical services to vice president of sales and operations before stepping away from day-to-day management and eventually leaving the board in 2023. At the time, he still held roughly 6% of Couche-Tard, making him one of its biggest individual shareholders.
6. Jean Coutu & family
Net worth: $4.9B (38th)
Jean Coutu studied medicine and pharmacy before opening his first discount pharmacy in Montreal in 1969. That single storefront turned into 416 Jean Coutu locations across Quebec, Ontario, and New Brunswick, one of the most recognizable brands in the province. Metro Inc. bought the chain in 2018 for $4.5B, but the Coutu family still plays a major role: Jean's sons Michel and François sit on Metro's board, while his grandson Jean-Michel runs the company’s pharmacy division.
5. Michael Latifi
Net worth: $6.1B (34th)
Born in Iran and based in Montreal, Michael Latifi is the founder of Sofina Foods, one of Canada's largest food producers. His company supplies major grocery chains and owns brands across meat, seafood, and prepared foods. Latifi also made international headlines with his investment in McLaren Group, where he put more than £200 million into the automotive and racing company. His son, former F1 driver Nicholas Latifi, was born and raised in Montreal.
4. Ryan Cohen
Net worth: $7B (30th)
Ryan Cohen co-founded Chewy, the online pet-supply retailer that grew into a US$3.5-billion-a-year operation before he sold it to PetSmart in 2017. He later became a central figure in the pandemic-era GameStop stock saga, investing about $76M to acquire a 13% stake and pushing for a turnaround that made him the company's public face. Cohen now serves as GameStop's CEO and continues to build his fortune through tech and retail investments.
3. The Saputo family
Net worth: $8.9B (21st)
Saputo is one of Quebec's most iconic business families, known globally for the dairy empire built in the 1950s. Today, Saputo Inc. products are sold in more than 40 countries, and the family's influence extends far beyond food. They also own CF Montréal (formerly the Montreal Impact), the city's Major League Soccer team.
2. Alain Bouchard
Net worth: $9.8B (15th)
Alain Bouchard co-founded Alimentation Couche-Tard in 1980 and remains its guiding force. The Quebec-based convenience-store giant generates $63B in sales annually and has grown into a global powerhouse through acquisitions like Circle K. Bouchard still oversees the company as founder-chairman, and his stake places him near the very top of the country's wealthiest people.
1. The Desmarais family
Net worth: $12.7B (10th)
Quebec's richest family (and the only Quebec group in Canada's top 10) built its fortune through Power Corporation, one of the country’s most influential financial holding companies. The story begins in the 1950s when Paul Desmarais Sr. famously bought his family's struggling Sudbury bus company for $1 and used it as a launchpad for a massive acquisition spree.
His sons Paul Jr. and André expanded Power Corp. into an empire with major stakes in Great-West Lifeco and IGM Financial, all while remaining closely connected to Canadian politics. The third generation now leads the next chapter. Olivier Desmarais heads Power Sustainable, which recently launched a $330-million climate-focused investment fund. Paul Desmarais III leads Sagard, the venture-capital arm that holds a major stake in Wealthsimple.
The family also owns a sprawling private estate in Sagard, Quebec.
This article is adapted from "Canada's richest billionaires are worth over $300B — Here's how they made their mega-fortunes", which was published on Narcity Canada.
