Business groups say Quebec’s mini-budget abandons entire economic sectors

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Some business groups are lamenting Quebec’s latest attempt to address the acute labor shortage in the province, saying the measures will leave entire sectors of the economy to their fate.

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Finance Minister Eric Girard on Thursday released $ 2.9 billion in spending over five years to train and requalify 170,000 workers in six fields of activity, including health care and education. Additional sums will support private investment to improve business productivity, Girard said in publishing his fall budget update .

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Quebec’s labor shortage, which was already a problem before COVID-19, has worsened during the pandemic. More than 279,000 positions were vacant in Quebec in September, Statistics Canada said Thursday . About 7.3 percent of jobs in the province were vacant as of Sept. 30, second only to British Columbia.

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“They have focused on priority sectors, but what is left for private industry, and specifically manufacturing? Absolutely nothing, ”said Véronique Proulx, director of Manufacturiers et Exportateurs du Québec, in an interview. “There is a small disconnect between Premier (François) Legault’s desire to manufacture more locally and the measures announced today.”

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Work “is the number one problem in all of Quebec, but there is nothing here for entire swaths of the economy,” said François Vincent, Quebec vice president at the Canadian Federation of Independent Business, which has about 20,000 members in the province. “Many entrepreneurs in retail, tourism or accommodation are wondering when the government will help them deal with this crisis.”

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The availability of workers is already hurting Quebec’s economy. Forty-four percent of all Quebec small businesses have to reject new contracts due to labor shortages, according to a November survey of CFIB members. In January, the proportion was 26 percent.

Beginning in the fall semester of next year, Quebec will pay students who choose to pursue careers in healthcare, education, childcare, engineering, information technology, and construction. Students can receive up to $ 9,000 at the college level and $ 15,000 at the college level for a three-year program and $ 20,000 for a four-year training program.

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A better strategy could have included offering incentives for students to adopt specialized trades such as welding or electromechanics, Proulx said. Most of Quebec’s 25,000 vacant manufacturing jobs require only a CEGEP diploma.

“Skilled trades are where we have the greatest needs,” Proulx said.

Girard’s tax update also includes new salary bonuses, estimated to cost $ 60.3 million over two years, aimed at encouraging public sector retirees to return to work.

Nurses, patient care assistants, psychologists, social workers, human relations officers, elementary and middle school teachers, special education technicians, daycare technicians, and child care educators they will all be eligible to receive the bonuses.

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Despite Girard’s desire to ease the workforce crisis, his fiscal update does not change the province’s immigration quotas. This refusal to expand the workforce will hurt economic growth, said Karl Blackburn, director of the Conseil du patronat du Québec, the province’s largest employer lobby.

“We are very disappointed,” Blackburn said in an interview. “Quebec is facing the largest labor shortage in its history, but there is nothing in the mini-budget to help companies cope in the short to medium term.

“Although our economy is doing very well, not everyone will be able to participate in the recovery. Large sectors have been abandoned and the government has placed emphasis on the areas in which it operates. We are also surprised by the absence of measures aimed at retaining workers with experience in the private sector ”.

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Girard defended his government’s strategy, saying that Quebec has the capacity “to deal with this labor shortage.” Quebec may have about 250,000 unemployed, 200,000 young people who are not studying and more than 70,000 older workers, while another 100,000 people who were working in February 2020 are not currently employed, he said.

“The government needs to make decisions,” Girard told reporters. “And we have essential services where we have a labor shortage: education, health care and daycare. So we address that. We also know that it is strategic for Quebec to have more IT, more engineering, more construction workers. These pockets of the labor market are extremely small, in extremely high demand and we are supporting them. “

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Among other measures, Quebec will add $ 350 million over five years to boost economic development and support the creation of the province’s first innovation zones. Details will be announced soon, the Finance Ministry said.

“It’s great to see new investments in innovation,” Proulx said. “Still, if the government really wants to make up for the labor shortage with higher productivity, it will have to invest much more than this.”

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