The Legault government does not understand the seriousness of the labor scarcity crisis by refusing in particular to raise the immigration thresholds, denounce the employers in Quebec.
They met on Friday to make a final appeal to the government before the presentation of its November 25 mini-budget. There were, side by side, the heads of the Quebec Employers Council (CPQ), the Quebec Retail Council, the Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB), the Federation of Quebec Chambers of Commerce. (FCCQ), Manufacturers and Exporters of Quebec (MEQ) and even the Union of Quebec municipalities (UMQ). Quebec is going through an “unprecedented labor shortage crisis” which calls for a much more vigorous response than the one the government has implemented so far.
“When we hear the Prime Minister say that the labor shortage is a happy problem, we do not agree. The shortage of manpower is an economic disaster, and if the government recognized it as strongly as the economic community sees it on the ground, it would be already a big step taken ”, declared to the To have to, on the sidelines of the press conference, the president and CEO of the CPQ, Karl Blackburn, who speaks of 220,000 vacant positions.
Great means of action
Several major means of action should be deployed to alleviate the problem as quickly and effectively as possible, it was argued, including focusing on the adoption of new technologies, supporting worker training and better integrating the entire workforce. available labor, including women, older workers, First Nations people as well as those with disabilities. But also increase immigration thresholds, reduce the processing times for permanent residence applications and adopt a real immigration regionalization strategy.
“I do not feel that all the levers are activated at the same time, lamented the CEO of the FCCQ, Charles Milliard. With regard to requalification and investment in innovation, things are going well. But we still do not also manage to recognize that the number of workers available is simply insufficient. It takes us higher immigration thresholds. “
Same story on the manufacturing side. According to recent estimates, the scarcity of labor has caused the sector to lose 18 billion in revenue in two years. “The situation continues to worsen on the ground, and yet we trivialize the problem,” says with rage the CEO of MEQ, Véronique Proulx. “Entrepreneurs do not understand and feel abandoned by the Legault government. They are told all they have to do is increase their wages, but there are no workers. We tear them away. “
Sterile debate
Charles Milliard denounces this “sterile” debate that the Legault government is having on the negative impact that immigrants would have on its objective of increasing the average salary in Quebec. Yet people with an immigrant background can be found at all income levels, and “even if they do not provide the highest paying jobs, culture, tourism and local businesses are essential services for the vitality of our regions, ”he argued.
The strong demand for labor in Quebec provides immigrants with the best possible integration conditions, said François Vincent of the CFIB. “In the regions, the francization of immigrants is done almost automatically by force of circumstance”, for his part assured the president of the UMQ and mayor of Gaspé, Daniel Côté, on condition, of course, that they are offered the housing and necessary support services.