Quebec’s economy needs immigration: Couillard
QUEBEC The main economic challenge facing Quebec is a provincewide labour shortage that is hampering companies’ ability to seize business opportunities, especially in outlying regions, Liberal Leader Philippe Couillard said Monday.
To overcome that shortage, it’s essential to maintain and possibly even increase current immigration levels, Couillard said at a press conference in suburban Quebec City.
His two rivals, the Coalition Avenir Québec’s François Legault and the Parti Québécois’s Jean-François Lisée, propose dropping immigration levels from the current 52,000 arrivals per year to 40,000 for Legault and 35,000 to 40,000 for Lisée.
Couillard slammed those proposals Monday, as he has throughout the campaign, reiterating that slashing immigration would be an economic disaster that would stymie growth and make it even harder for employers to recruit staff.
“The main question, the ballot box issue, with the labour shortage we have, is whether it’s appropriate to propose a reduction in the number of workers who come to Quebec,” he said.
Reducing immigration “is not only an anti-economic measure, but it will limit the long-term development of Quebec,” Couillard hammered.
“It will draw a black circle around Quebec. Here is a place that is not welcoming. Here is a place where they close the doors, while everywhere else, people are competing for talent,” he said.
While he staunchly opposed a cut, Couillard refused to be nailed down on whether he agrees with business groups demanding immigration be increased to as many as 60,000 arrivals a year.
That’s a decision the National Assembly would make when the government has had a chance to assess the success of efforts to attract more newcomers to outlying regions and help them integrate, he said.
Visiting an IT consulting company in the Lebourgneuf district, Couillard announced a spectrum of efforts a re-elected Liberal government would deploy to solve the shortage, from improving education to luring retirees back into the workforce, boosting participation among Indigenous communities and investing in artificial intelligence.
But front and centre in the next government’s economic strategy must be attracting immigrants to regions grappling with acute labour shortages, Couillard said.
“What I want to remind Quebecers of is that this is an issue of economic survival,” he said.
Unemployment stands at 6.1 per cent in Quebec, according to the government’s provincial manpower strategy, announced in May.
It’s highest in the Gaspé—Magdalen Islands, at 11.7 per cent, and lowest in Chaudière-Appalaches, at 3.5 per cent. In Montreal, the unemployment rate is 8.2 per cent. A rate of five per cent or less is considered full employment.
The government estimates more than 1.3 million jobs will have to be filled in the next 10 years, of which nearly 100,000 need filling immediately.
Young people arriving on the labour market will fill 54 per cent of those vacancies, according to the manpower strategy. Twenty-two per cent will be filled by immigrants, while seven per cent will be filled by senior citizens who stay in or return to the job market. Twelve per cent will be filled by people working more hours, and four per cent by unemployed people finding jobs.
Couillard promised, if returned to power, $135 million over the next five years to entice more immigrant workers to outlying regions and better integrate and retain them.
The measures include:
$10 million over five years to help ■ regional municipalities, known as municipalités régionales de comté or MRCs, create detailed portraits of local workforce needs;
$15 million a year to enable ■
MRCs to work with employers and community organizations to integrate and retain immigrant workers; and
$10 million per year to add and ■ improve workplace French courses in the private sector provided by school boards and language schools.
The Liberals have made previous commitments to attract retirees back into the workforce by offering tax credits so they aren’t penalized for income earned, and allowing older workers to delay their pensions until age 75.
Later, the Liberal leader and several of his ministers took part in a panel discussion with entrepreneurs at a vineyard in Dunham, in the Eastern Townships.
It will draw a black circle around Quebec. Here is a place that is not welcoming. Here is a place where they close the doors, while everywhere else, people are competing for talent.