Organizations pushing Quebec to adjust immigration targets to ease labour shortage

The Quebec provincial flag flies on top of the National Assembly’s main tower, January 18, 2023 in Quebec City. (Jacques Boissinot/The Canadian Press)

Unions and organizations are asking the Quebec government to come up with solutions to a growing labour shortage, including reviewing immigration targets and requirements.

According to the Conseil du patronat du Québec (CPQ), nearly 1.4 million jobs will have to be filled by employees currently not in the workforce by 2033.

With Quebec’s aging population, a large chunk of workers retiring and the evolution of artificial intelligence (AI), the CPQ says the challenges are “major” and “require immediate, structured action.”

The CPQ, a confederation of nearly 100 employers, companies and institutions, was at the National Assembly on Wednesday to propose five solutions.

It wants Quebec to improve literacy and numeracy rates; establish a continuum of training and skills recognition; attract and retain experienced workers; reduce obstacles to the workforce for young and marginalized people; and adjust economic immigration to meet market needs.

This comes after Quebec sought to drastically reduce its immigration rates, slashed its Quebec Experience Program (PEQ) and unsuccessfully tried to gain full control over immigration from Ottawa.

However, the government walked back some of its comments regarding temporary migrant workers in November.

• READ MORE: Quebec minister says Ottawa has gone too far in cutting temporary immigration

The CPQ stresses that immigrants make up nearly a quarter of Quebec’s workforce. It wants the government to make its Temporary Foreign Worker Program more flexible and adjust permanent immigration thresholds based on metrics like job vacancies and future economic needs.

“Quebec is directly jeopardizing its production capacity, economic growth, and standard of living. The workforce must be treated as a strategic asset, on par with investment and innovation,” says Michelle LLambías Meunier, President and CEO of the CPQ.

• READ MORE: Quebec freezes two major immigration streams that provide path to permanent residency

Quebec’s largest union, the Fédération des travailleurs et travailleuses du Québec (FTQ), is demanding Quebec add a grandfather clause for workers affected by the abolition of the PEQ and temporary foreign workers whose permits are expiring and cannot be renewed.

The union is also concerned about the government giving priority to immigrant workers for the public sector over the private sector.

“We should not end up with a workforce that is perpetually precarious, with temporary permits or, worse, with waves of workers who have become undocumented because their permits have expired,” says the FTQ’s general secretary, Olivier Carrière.

He adds that most of them are learning French and living here with their spouses and children.

“The uncertainty and hypocrisy have gone on long enough: the need for labour is permanent, and the status of workers must become so as well,” says Carrière, who is also calling for an end to closed work permits.

The union points to a 2023 survey conducted by Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC), in which 94 per cent of temporary foreign workers asked about their living and working experiences in Canada said they would like to become permanent residents if given the opportunity.