MONTREAL--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jul 2, 2026--
HGreg has been recognized as a 2026 recipient of the Canadian Business Excellence Awards for private businesses. Presented by Excellence Canada, the award honours organizations that demonstrate excellence in customer service, employee engagement and organizational innovation. This marks the company’s fourth consecutive year receiving the award.
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“In today’s fast-changing automotive market, where customer expectations are greater than ever, earning this recognition for a fourth consecutive year is an accomplishment we are immensely proud of,” stated John Hairabedian, President of HGreg. “This award reflects our teams’ unwavering commitment to innovation, adaptability, and delivering an exceptional customer experience across our entire network.”
The Canadian Business Excellence Award recognizes companies that demonstrate sustained performance in areas such as customer experience, employee engagement, and ongoing improvement. Organizations are evaluated through an independent process based on Excellence Canada standards.
The 2026 awards ceremony will take place on September 23 at the Eglinton Grand in Toronto. The event will bring together organizations from across the country to celebrate excellence in Canadian business.
About HGreg
Established in 1993, HGreg is committed to simplifying the car-buying process through its core values of excellence, transparency, smart use of technology and a refreshing customer-focused philosophy. Supported by a passionate team of car enthusiasts, HGreg operates dealerships in Quebec and the U.S., offering both new and pre-owned vehicles. For more information, visit www.hgregoire.com.
About the Canadian Business Excellence Award
The Canadian Business Excellence Awards for private businesses, presented by Excellence Canada and PwC Canada, are awarded annually across Canada. This distinction recognizes organizations that adopt a strategic approach to improving performance and achieving their goals, regardless of their industry.
HGreg’s headquarters in Saint-Eustache, Quebec. HGreg received the Canadian Business Excellence Award for Private Businesses for a fourth consecutive year.
CATIA LA MAR, Venezuela (AP) — Rescuers pulled a 43-year-old security guard alive from a collapsed basement early Thursday, ending a grueling days-long operation that became a symbol of hope after the devastation of twin earthquakes that struck Venezuela eight days earlier.
Hernán Alberto Gil Flores was extracted safely after being trapped since June 24 under the rubble in the basement of the Galerías Playa Grande shopping center in the coastal town in La Guaira. Rescuers initially made contact with him over the weekend.
Teams carrying flags from across the world cheered as rescuers carried Gil, wearing an oxygen mask on a stretcher covered in an orange tarp, through throngs of people into a Red Cross ambulance.
A group of men in red Costa Rican Red Cross uniforms embraced and laughed in relief, while others broke out into applause.
The rescue was considered a small miracle cutting through a week of tragedy. With teams sustaining him with food and water while they excavated the concrete, they were able to keep him alive far longer than the 48-to-72-hour threshold most rescue operations give to find survivors in disasters.
Gil Flores worked as a night-shift security guard at the complex, and was inside his small security cabin when the first violent tremor struck. While the surrounding concrete structure collapsed around him, his workstation cabin held ground, shielding him from crushing debris and creating a vital pocket of air.
“When we found him, he asked us not to tell his wife that he was alive, just in case he wouldn’t make it,” Costa Rican Red Cross rescuer Minyar Collado told The Associated Press, but she added “We were never going to leave him here."
A specialized team from the Costa Rican Red Cross first detected signs of life and established contact with him on Sunday.
His wife, Gusbimar González, told the AP that she had days of despair before hearing that rescuers made contact. “When I learned he was alive, I saw a ray of light in the darkness," she said. The couple has two children, ages 8 and 10.
The operation was coordinated by an urban search and rescue team of Chilean firefighters, who worked around the clock with specialized teams from the United States, Portugal and Mexico, Costa Rica, El Salvador and Venezuela.
Rescuers navigated a highly unstable structure, torrential rain and persistent aftershocks to tunnel down to the survivor. They used a telescopic camera to help maintain constant contact with Gil Flores, passing water and liquid nutrients through a narrow shaft to keep him hydrated during the final three days of the extraction.
María Paz Campos, a veteran firefighter from Chile, talked him through the entire operation, and kept him calm during the final excruciating hours of Thursday.
In a video published by the Chilean firefighters in the hours before the rescue, Gil Flores is seen drawing, seemingly to pass the time. Campos then gently tells him to look at the camera and to wear protective goggles.
“I need you to keep the goggles on, for the small particles that are falling, to avoid them getting into your eye,” Campos told the Venezuelan survivor.
The collapse of the building was triggered by two back-to-back earthquakes on June 24 that registered magnitudes of 7.2 and 7.5, respectively. The shallow, violent tremors damaged or destroyed tens of thousands of buildings across northern Venezuela, killing more than 2,200 people, injuring over 11,000 and leaving La Guaira state as the hardest-hit region in the country.
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Associated Press video journalists Andry Rincón and Brayan Antequero contributed to this report.
Rescue workers carry Hernán Alberto Gil Flores Gil after he was pulled from the rubble eight days after he was trapped by twin earthquakes that struck Catia La Mar, Venezuela, Thursday, July 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Fernando Vergara)
Rescue workers carry Hernán Alberto Gil Flores Gil after he was pulled from the rubble eight days after he was trapped by twin earthquakes that struck Catia La Mar, Venezuela, Thursday, July 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Fernando Vergara)
Chilean rescue workers carry Hernán Alberto Gil Flores after he was pulled from the rubble eight days after he was trapped by twin earthquakes that struck Catia La Mar, Venezuela, Thursday, July 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Fernando Vergara)
Rescue workers carry Alberto Gil after he was pulled from the rubble eight days after he was trapped by twin earthquakes that struck Catia La Mar, Venezuela. in Catia La Mar, Venezuela, Thursday, July 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Fernando Vergara)
Rescue workers carry Alberto Gil after he was pulled from the rubble eight days after he was trapped by twin earthquakes that struck Catia La Mar, Venezuela. in Catia La Mar, Venezuela, Thursday, July 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Fernando Vergara)
