Quebec urges Ottawa to lift the ceilings on temporary immigration. The threshold for temporary foreign workers will be raised in 71 low-wage trades and professions, and hiring procedures, simplified, said Minister Jean Boulet in an interview with the To have to.
He also undertakes to strengthen the squad devoted to them at the Committee on Standards, Equity, Health and Safety at Work (CNESST) to “ensure that these people receive fair treatment”.
The agreement in principle that Quebec and Ottawa reached last August already included some indications of these upcoming changes, but they go further this time. These relaxations could well represent “the greatest advance of Quebec in the matter of temporary immigration” since 1991, affirms the Minister of Labor and Deputy Minister for Immigration.
For this list of professions that have access to simplified processing, there will simply be no more ceiling on the number of temporary foreign workers per workplace, unlike the 20% threshold initially put forward. For other sectors, this form of quota goes from 10 to 20%. Finally, other professions with little or no specialization will also be exempt from posting requirements and local recruitment efforts.
So-called “high-wage” professions, ie more than $ 23.08 an hour in Quebec, are already exempt from these limits. The same goes for positions linked to the health and agricultural sectors which, however, are subject to longer and more complex recruitment procedures abroad.
The changes to the rules materialize under a “super consensus,” said Minister Boulet. A consensus obtained after consultation with the Commission of Labor Market Partners (CPMT).
Quebec and the CPMT have determined the 71 trades concerned as “still in significant labor shortage”. They include drivers, material handlers, machinery operators, industrial butchers, forestry laborers, maintenance workers, retail cashiers, and workers in the accommodation, food and beverage industries. catering or tourism, lists the minister.
Of the list of 71 professions that will be sent to Ottawa on Tuesday, 34 had in fact been withdrawn from simplified processing by the Legault government. The dutyreported for example that bakers and cooks were no longer there since February 2021, an “error” according to some bakery owners. To these, a “considerable number” of 37 others are added, according to the Minister, for jobs which require “fewer qualifications”, that is to say on-the-job training only and not prerequisites.
Eagerly called for by the business community, this boost is also presented as one of the key solutions to counter the labor shortage. For Mr. Boulet, this is “one of the options”: “It will not meet all of our needs, but it will allow our companies to substantially increase their number of employees. “
These changes should also be in effect in the coming weeks, he assured, in the form of a pilot project. They will remain so until December 31, 2023.
Lighten the process
To recruit temporary foreign workers into low-wage positions, most employers currently have to go through a multi-step process.
Each position must be posted in at least three places. Then, following these steps, the employer carries out a Labor Market Impact Assessment (LMIA), before being able to apply for work permits. Documents are sent simultaneously to both levels of government.
It will not meet all of our needs, but it will allow our companies to substantially increase their number of employees.
Simplified processing therefore makes it possible to avoid these procedures, the requirements and deadlines of which are regularly criticized by employers, in addition to eliminating the maximum threshold for the number of temporary workers for each workplace of the same company.
The majority, between 75 and 80%, of low-wage temporary foreign workers are found in agriculture in Quebec, but they do not qualify for the simplified processing. Another relaxation could concern them, however, namely the exemption from recruitment and posting efforts. Minister Boulet did not confirm whether this was the case, however, pledging instead to publish details to this effect on Tuesday.
For more than five years, the Union des producteurs agricoles (UPA) has been calling for this process to be alleviated, “which has become unnecessary given the very low rate of unemployment and the chronic shortage of labor,” wrote its president, Marcel. Groleau, last week. The central labor union also denounced the computer failures of Service Canada, the entity dealing with LMIAs, which created “unacceptable” delays that could “jeopardize” the agricultural season, according to the UPA.
Reconcile the stakes
The difficulties experienced by certain temporary workers will also be taken into account, insists the minister, wanting to be reassuring. The number of occupational injuries for these categories of workers tripled between 2015 and 2020. Some workers also find themselves in an administrative dead end, between entities that are passing the buck without finding a solution.
“I intend to increase the number of investigators” for these workers, advanced Jean Boulet, to “make sure to treat them well”.
He does not hide his desire to fully repatriate the temporary foreign worker program, the “ultimate goal” of negotiations with Ottawa: “I would like Quebec to have full management of it. If the only provincial order took care of this temporary immigration component, it would cost businesses less, he believes, while guaranteeing “more harmony” with the concrete needs of the job market.
The professions in question in these relaxations are level C and D, according to the national classification of professions, and must meet “pressing and urgent needs,” he continues. Shortages for these categories C and D have sometimes persisted for several years, even decades in agriculture, but these workers have lost their main route to permanent residence under the government of François Legault.
Both categories are now excluded from the Quebec Experience Program. Jean Boulet does not reject the idea of ”pursuing another discussion” on these avenues.
The government announced last week some form of catching up on permanent immigration targets, which had been lowered since being elected.
As for setting up a pilot project for nurses who are being recruited abroad, he argues that “nothing is closed in this regard”. Quebec said in October that 28 health institutions were seeking to recruit a total of 3,500 nurses abroad this year, but many pitfalls stand in the face of this desire.