Hiring a fractional executive in Quebec works much like anywhere in Canada, with four differences that land on the leadership team: the Charter of the French Language as amended by Bill 96, Quebec's private-sector privacy law (Law 25), higher statutory payroll costs for a full-time hire, and Quebec's own R&D and AI tax credits. A leader who already knows them saves you the learning curve.
This guide covers each one as it stands in 2026, what it means for a fractional CEO, COO, CTO or Chief AI Officer, and what Montreal's AI ecosystem adds. For rates, see our Canada cost guide: the Canadian providers that publish prices use a single national list.
Bill 96: French at work, in contracts and on the leadership team
Bill 96, sanctioned on June 1, 2022, rewrote large parts of the Charter of the French Language. Its obligations reach the executive team, not just marketing:
- Francization. A business that employs 25 or more people in Quebec for six months must register with the Office québécois de la langue française (OQLF). The 25-to-49 bracket has been covered since June 1, 2025, which brought in some 20,000 businesses. Within three months of registering, the business files an analysis of its linguistic situation.
- Leadership. A francization program aims for a good knowledge of French among senior officers and other officers, and more French speakers at every level, including the board of directors. A business with 100 or more employees needs a francization committee of at least six people.
- Contracts. Since June 1, 2023, the other party must receive a French version of a contract of adhesion before both sides can choose to be bound by another language. Negotiated contracts must be in French unless the parties expressly choose another language, and invoices and receipts must be in French.
- Hiring. Job postings must be published in French. You can require another language only if the duties need it, after assessing the real need, checking that existing staff's language skills aren't enough and limiting the number of such positions, and the posting must state the reasons.
- Software. Software offered in Quebec must be available in French when a French version exists, and a francization program covers French in work tools and information technology.
- Penalties. Breaching an OQLF order can bring fines of $3,000 to $30,000 for a company, doubled for a second offence and tripled after that, and each day a breach continues counts as a separate offence.
For a fractional executive, the practical test is simple: can they run a meeting, review a contract and write to staff in French? A leader who can't will lean on others for all of it. Run part of the interview in French.
Law 25: privacy obligations the executive team owns
Law 25, assented to on September 22, 2021, modernized Quebec's private-sector privacy act in three phases: September 22 of 2022, 2023 and 2024. Several of its obligations sit squarely with leadership:
- The person in charge. The person exercising the highest authority in the business, in most companies the CEO, must see that the Act is complied with and acts as the person in charge of protecting personal information. The role can be delegated in writing to any person.
- Privacy impact assessments. Required for any project to acquire, develop or overhaul an information system that handles personal information, and before communicating personal information outside Quebec, including when a provider outside Quebec collects or keeps it on your behalf.
- Confidentiality incidents. A business must keep a register of incidents and promptly notify the Commission d'accès à l'information and the people affected when an incident presents a risk of serious injury.
- Automated decisions. When a decision is based exclusively on automated processing of personal information, you must tell the person, explain the main factors and parameters on request, and let them submit observations to a staff member. That puts AI-driven decisions on the executive agenda.
- Data portability. Since September 22, 2024, people can ask for the personal information they provided in a structured, commonly used technological format.
- Penalties. Administrative monetary penalties reach $10 million or 2% of worldwide turnover, and penal fines $25 million or 4%, whichever is greater.
For a fractional CTO or Chief AI Officer, Law 25 is a design input: architecture, vendor choice, data location and model use all need an assessment before launch, not after. For a fractional CEO or COO, it's a governance question: who is the person in charge, and is the delegation in writing?
What a full-time executive costs a Quebec employer
Quebec runs its own pension and parental insurance plans and adds a health services contribution on payroll, so a full-time executive costs a Quebec employer more in statutory contributions than the same hire in Ontario. In 2026, for a salary above the ceilings:
| Contribution | Quebec employer cost (2026) | Ontario comparison |
|---|---|---|
| Quebec Pension Plan (QPP) | 6.3% on earnings from $3,500 to $74,600, plus 4% up to $85,000: at most $4,895 | CPP: 5.95%, plus 4% up to $85,000: at most $4,646 |
| Quebec Parental Insurance Plan (QPIP) | 0.602%, at most $620.06 | None; Employment Insurance covers parental benefits |
| Employment Insurance (EI) | 1.4 × 1.30% on up to $68,900: at most $1,253.98 | 1.4 × 1.63%: at most $1,572.30 |
| Health Services Fund (FSS) | 1.65% of payroll for total payroll of $1 million or less, rising to 4.26% from $7.8 million | Employer Health Tax: up to 1.95%, after a $1 million exemption for eligible employers |
| CNESST workplace insurance | Set per employer; the 2026 average is $1.54 per $100 of payroll, on salaries up to $103,000 | WSIB: set per industry class |
| Labour standards levy | 0.06% of payroll | Quebec program |
QPP figures from Retraite Québec, EI and CPP from the Canada Revenue Agency, QPIP and CNESST from the Government of Quebec, the FSS from the Health Insurance Act (s. 34), and the levy from its regulation. Employers with total payroll over $2 million must also invest at least 1% of payroll in training (the “1% law”).
None of this applies to a fractional executive on a service contract: you pay an invoice, not payroll. It does apply to the full-time hire you're comparing against, on top of the salary, benefits and search fee covered in our Canada cost guide.
Quebec's credits for R&D and AI work
Quebec overhauled its innovation credits in 2025 and 2026. A fractional CTO or Chief AI Officer who knows them can structure the roadmap so the work qualifies:
- CRIC. The tax credit for research, innovation and commercialization replaced the R&D wage credit for tax years beginning after March 25, 2025. It refunds 30% of eligible spending above an exclusion threshold, on up to $1 million a year, and 20% beyond that. Only half of what you pay a subcontractor for work done in Quebec counts.
- CDAEIA. The e-business credit for tax years beginning after December 31, 2025 covers 30% of eligible salaries at qualifying IT companies whose work integrates AI in a significant way: 22% refundable and 8% non-refundable for tax years beginning in 2026.
- SR&ED. The federal credit refunds 35% of eligible spending for most Canadian-controlled private corporations, on up to $6 million a year. Quebec's credits count as government assistance, so they reduce the base the federal credit is calculated on.
None of these credits pays a fractional executive's fee directly. Ask any candidate which ones they've claimed and how they structured the work to qualify; the answer shows quickly whether they've operated in Quebec.
Montreal's AI ecosystem
Montreal is a large part of why Quebec has a deep bench of AI leaders:
- Mila. Founded by Yoshua Bengio in 1993 and a non-profit since 2018, Mila had more than 1,200 student researchers and 197 faculty members as of October 2025.
- Scale AI. Canada's AI Global Innovation Cluster is based in Montreal, with $284 million in funding from the Government of Canada and $53 million from the Government of Quebec.
- IVADO. Created in 2016 with a $93 million Canada First Research Excellence Fund grant, it is led by Université de Montréal with Polytechnique Montréal, HEC Montréal, Université Laval and McGill. In 2023 it won a further $124.5 million for its R3AI program.
- Adoption. 12.7% of Quebec businesses used AI applications in production in the 12 months before the second quarter of 2025, according to the Institut de la statistique du Québec.
The gap between research depth and business adoption is where a fractional Chief AI Officer earns their keep: picking the use cases that matter and governing them under Law 25. Vozwin's AI division is built in Montreal; the full division lives at vozwin.ai.
What to ask a fractional executive in Quebec
- Can you work in French, in meetings and in writing? Run part of the interview in French.
- Have you been the person in charge of personal information under Law 25, or worked closely with one? Ask how they handled a privacy impact assessment or a transfer outside Quebec.
- If you have 25 or more employees: have you taken a company through OQLF registration or a francization program?
- Which Quebec credits have you claimed, from the CRIC and the CDAEIA to SR&ED, and how did you structure the work to qualify?
- Where are you based, and how often can you be on site? Board meetings, francization committee meetings and launches are worth being in the room for.