Faced with the serious shortage of labor on construction sites, François Legault wants to encourage workers to move to the region and is already announcing the extension of accelerated construction training.
“We are going to need more people than ever in the region, so those who are already there will have work to do, then we will have to convince people to move to the region because we will have a lot of work” , launched the Prime Minister on Thursday, at the end of the caucus of CAQ deputies who were gathered in Sherbrooke to prepare for the start of the parliamentary term.
With its vast reform of the construction industry, which will be tabled as soon as the political contest resumes in the National Assembly next week, the CAQ wants to ensure that major projects in the battery and Hydro sectors Quebec is coming true.
Even if the deficits will be greater than expected, construction starts must accelerate, argues François Legault. In addition to the construction of schools, hospitals and housing, the erection of new dams to meet Quebec’s future energy needs will require more workers in the regions.
“We expect that the projects that will be launched in the coming years at Hydro-Québec will be a historic volume of work, and therefore a need for concentrated labor in certain regions,” insisted François. Legault.
His Minister of Labor, Jean Boulet, also mentioned the “battery sector”. “We must ensure that important industrial projects come to fruition in the regions,” he stressed. Remember that the Swedish company Northvolt has already announced that it will need several thousand workers for its future battery factory in Montérégie.
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Extension of accelerated training
The teachers’ strike and the shortage of teachers slowed down the launch of accelerated construction training courses paid $750 per week, which were to begin at the beginning of January throughout the province.
The Prime Minister believes that this is a very good strategy for quickly training workers. Shortened courses will therefore be extended. “Continue to register, we will continue in the coming months, then the coming years, to accelerate construction training,” he maintained.
François Legault is even considering renewing the financial assistance of $25 per hour for young people who choose to follow the programs. “We must not exclude that because we will need tens of thousands of additional workers in construction.”
The construction industry modernization project aims in particular to decompartmentalize construction professions in order to reduce delays and reduce costs. Minister Boulet wants certain tasks from around fifteen construction trades to be shared. This reform will also address labor mobility.