(Saint-Hyacinthe) The municipalities of Quebec invite immigrants to drop anchor in Quebec, but in the regions.
The Union of Municipalities of Quebec (UMQ) launched, Tuesday in Saint-Hyacinthe in Montérégie, a web campaign in French, English, Spanish and Portuguese entitled “Anchor in Quebec”, whose objective is to value the regions.
“Two issues have emerged everywhere in Quebec: the scarcity of housing and labor,” explained the new president of the UMQ, Martin Damphousse, after a tour across the province.
Critical labor shortage
“In the regions, it’s even more glaring because, unfortunately, as soon as you leave the major centers, the scarcity of labor becomes very problematic. Many companies lack the employees to be able to work evening shifts. Night shifts, they haven’t existed for a long time and when I talk about fast food, often they are not even open anymore and only have drive-thru because they lack staff,” said Mr. Damphousse.
Until very recently, newcomers overwhelmingly chose to settle in the metropolis in proportions varying from 75% to 85%, depending on the databases consulted. The Minister of Immigration, Christine Fréchette, present at the launch of the campaign, however, delivered fresh data that is surprising. Thus, between 2016 and 2022, the proportion of immigrants who settle in the regions and who were still there two years after their arrival increased by 50%, from 20% to 31%.
“The labor shortage, the scarcity of talent, means that there is an unequaled appetite in the region to attract immigrants,” she explains. But to attract them, you need support infrastructure and the opportunity was too good to throw a few arrows at the previous Liberal government.
Liberals blamed
“Regionalizing immigration meant reforming the teams that existed within the department in the regions. Under the Liberals, all the offices of the Department of Immigration were closed. It was a big mistake. All of the teams from the Department of Immigration abroad had also been abolished, ”she said, stressing that the CAQ government had put these resources in place both internationally and in the regions.
“It is important that immigrants, when they arrive in the regions, be accompanied,” argued the Minister. We want to increase the attractiveness of municipalities in the regions, particularly for young people, families and entrepreneurs. […] Our ultimate goal is for people not only to arrive in the regions, to work there for a while, but to put down roots there. Rooting is the ultimate goal. »
Where will these new arrivals live?
As Martin Damphousse pointed out, however, the other glaring problem in the region is the lack of housing. Where will this workforce that we so much want to attract live?
“We have the constraint on the real estate side, which emerges quite quickly when it comes to seeing how many additional immigrants there could be in a region,” admits Minister Fréchette. The housing situation complicates the deal a bit. »
Martin Damphousse recognizes that this vicious circle is insoluble in the short term. ” There is no miracle solution. It absolutely requires close cooperation between the two levels of government. And we, the cities, have our part to do,” he adds, referring to the timeframes repeatedly decried when the time comes for a municipality to issue the necessary permits.
Christine Fréchette has no quantified objective as to the eventual increase in the proportion of immigrants who will choose to settle in the regions. And as long as we have no housing to offer them, this increase will be slowed down in most regions of Quebec, almost all of which have vacancy rates below the equilibrium level of 3%, most being even under 1%.