Quebec business owners called on the provincial government to immediately increase immigration levels to reduce chronic labour shortages.
According to the Quebec Employers Council, more immigrants are needed to avoid the French-speaking province’s economic slowdown. Quebec’s historically low unemployment rate of 4.9% indicates that employers find it difficult to find the right people to fill job vacancies.
The ruling political party, the Coalition for Quebec’s Future (Coalition Avenir Québec), claims that a 20% reduction to 40,000 people a year was necessary to review the system for integrating new immigrants. Recently, the province introduced a personalized support program for new immigrants. Newcomers will be able to get help from the Quebec Ministry of Immigration, Diversity and Inclusion (MIDI) to quickly find a job and adapt.
Employers say they need people now to help their businesses grow. The vice-president of the lobby group Conseil du patronat du Québec, Denis Hamel, said: “Our main message is we need more immigrants than what the government is expecting over the next three years.”
However, the provincial government is planning to reduce immigration by 20% to about 40,000 new arrivals in 2019, with a subsequent small annual increase. In 2022, it is planned to welcome 52,000 immigrants.
According to the Quebec Employers Council, there are currently 120,000 unfilled jobs in a wide range of fields in the province. And as the average age of the population increases, it is expected that labour shortages will only get worse. Hamel emphasizes that this could lead to the closure of enterprises. “When you add the figures, you need at least 60,000 immigrants per year for at least the next six or seven years,” he said.
The Coalition for Quebec’s Future’s immigration policy has been a source of controversy since the party took power last year. After announcing a decrease in the level of immigration, the party proceeded to revise the skilled immigration system. This has led to the cancellation of thousands of applications that have not been processed on time.
The new expression-of-interest system, which works through the Arrima portal, is similar to the federal Express Entry system. The first batch of invitations was sent out to applicants in July. The details of the draw are yet to be published.