Prime Minister François Legault unveiled a summary plan on Thursday to transfer 5,000 jobs to the regions by 2028. He has pledged to transfer 2,000 of these jobs by September 30.
Currently, 1,330 jobs in the Quebec public service have moved to the regions, according to the most recent figures from the Treasury Board.
At a press conference in Maniwaki, in the Outaouais, Mr. Legault explained that he had identified three ways to achieve this electoral promise which dates from 2018.
The government will hire people in the regions to fill positions that have become vacant in urban areas.
It also intends to create new jobs in the regions, and move jobs to the regions in cases where the people occupying them voluntarily choose to move.
Departments and agencies have been instructed to prioritize the regionalization of their jobs in regional county municipalities (RCMs) with the lowest economic vitality index.
Fifteen shared government offices will be set up throughout Quebec to support the deployment of the plan.
The first offices will be established in Maniwaki, Matane, Alma, La Malbaie, Shawinigan, Lac-Mégantic, La Sarre, Baie-Comeau, Gaspé, New Richmond, Thetford Mines, Rawdon, Rivière-Rouge, Sorel-Tracy and Victoriaville.
In a press release, the Quebec Federation of Municipalities (FQM) welcomed the government’s announcement, which “corrects the historical error of the centralization of state services”.
The FQM says it supports the government’s approach of favoring devitalized RCMs first.
“This will have the effect of increasing the presence of civil servants in our communities, thus contributing to their dynamism and vitality,” reacted the president of the FQM, Jacques Demers.
The mayor of Gaspé and president of the Union of Quebec Municipalities (UMQ), Daniel Côté, was also delighted Thursday that “we are talking about real decentralization”.