A Q&A with Les Résidences Soleil’s Eddy Savoie: Minding your business
« In the médias » By Anthony Bonaparte, The Suburban – May 7, 2025.
Born in November 1943 in Kedgwick, a tiny French-speaking community in northern New Brunswick, Eddy Savoie, at age 15, moved to Montreal with less than $5 in his pockets, finding work as a labourer. By age 28 he was a successful contractor working on major real estate projects. In 1988, at age 45, Savoie built the first Les Résidences Soleil seniors’ residence in Boucherville, Quebec. Today, Groupe Savoie — a family-run business that includes his wife, five children, and a number of grandchildren — owns and operates 15 residences throughout the province, employing almost 2,000 people.
The Suburban recently spoke to Eddy Savoie, 81, founder and chairman of the board of directors, and his eldest daughter Nataly Savoie, executive president, from their head office in Boucherville. The conversation has been translated from the original French and edited for length and clarity.
The Suburban: How did your early years in New Brunswick shape you?
Eddy Savoie: We lived near a small village. There was no industry, except mainly lumberjacking. Our parents usually worked about six months out of the year for little pay, so when the kids turned 15 or 16, most would leave for Toronto, Montreal, or the U.S. to work and send back money. We were eight kids in our family and when I turned 15, it was my time to leave.
The Suburban: You soon became a successful builder. What prompted you to open a senior’s residence?
Eddy Savoie: My parents came to live with me eight or nine years after I arrived. By that time, I was doing small construction work. Eventually, my father started to lose his autonomy. I had a wife and children, so we started to look for a place that could take care of both my parents. I found some nice ones, but they didn’t offer all the services required, like 24-hour care. So, it all began as a true love story for my parents, because they were very important to me.
The Suburban: How did you choose the name, Les Résidences Soleil?
Eddy Savoie: Someone said, ‘Why don’t we call it Les Résidences Soleil [sun] because most people want to retire in the sun.
The Suburban: Was that first residence a new concept at that time?
Eddy Savoie: There was nothing in Quebec that offered all the services, with someone at the reception desk 24 hours a day. From that point on, people felt secure. I also wanted to have good food, and a variety of amenities like pool tables, a swimming pool, sauna, even therapeutic whirlpools. I wanted my parents to have what they had with me. But I wanted these services to be available to everyone at a reasonable price.
The Suburban: Was Quebec alone in not offering these services or did they exist elsewhere?
Nataly Savoie: In the late 1980s, seniors’ residences tended to be more like boarding homes, or apartment buildings reserved for seniors. But the concept of full- integrated residences — with everything required for seniors to live safely, and with all these services available — that did not exist. Happily, 40 years later, the situation has gotten much better. These are no longer places where you go to die, but like big Club Meds for people of a certain age. We also kept in mind the people with limited financial resources, so we wanted to make the residences as affordable as possible.
Eddy Savoie: My parents had no money. I understand what it is to have no money. That’s why I wanted to create something that would be accessible to all Quebecers. I knew what it was like to be poor.
The Suburban: What are the challenges today of running this type of business?
Eddy Savoie: Offering top-of-the-line services at a reasonable price and maintaining a cost structure that everyone can live with. We are a family business, and we won’t start a new project until all our other residences are doing well.
The Suburban: What are your proudest accomplishments as a CEO?
Eddy Savoie: My family. My entire family. The company might build nice residences, but seeing my family evolve within the organization — my children and my grandchildren — that’s what’s important. If you want to keep Quebec companies in Quebec, you must create the framework to run them from here. And when it’s done within a family, it’s very satisfying.
The Suburban: So, selling is not an option?
Eddy Savoie: Absolutely not! We have had Japanese, Australian, American, and Chinese investors come knocking on our doors. But if we’re of interest to them, it must mean we’re doing something right — and we’re very proud!