Quebec‘s government is implementing significant measures to bring more foreign workers to the province. The Quebec government has included more than 30 jobs to its list of occupations that are qualifying for simplified processing under the Temporary Foreign Worker Program (TFWP) as a result of the consultations with the labour market partners.
In a press release on November 2, Jean Boulet (the Minister of Labour and Acting Minister of Immigration) presented the list of the professions which meet the eligibility for the simplified processing.
The major sectors targeted under this new list of occupations include retail trade, services and food processing, accommodation, and others.
Last August, a new agreement was made after a consultation between the Quebec and Canadian government, and as a result of which a new list of professions was released. There were four conditions specified in the agreement, out of which one suggested including a few less-specialized professions in the province to the list of occupations that meet the eligibility for simplified processing under the program. In addition, these newly eligible occupations would enable the TFWP program to fulfill the labour market and economic needs of the programs in a better way.
In the press release, Minister Boulet said, “A strong consensus emerged from these consultations with regard to the sectors and professions identified by the Government of Quebec for the implementation of the flexibilities, all aimed at facilitating the hiring of temporary foreign workers (TET).”
Furthermore, the province has suggested that various low or non-specialized professions, including housekeeping staff, cashiers, or counter waiters, will not need to fulfill the advertising requirements. Also, as per the announcement, in certain sectors of the economy, the threshold for foreign workers would be increased to 20% from 10% with the effect of these new changes.
The statement during the press release clarified that the proposal had been submitted to the federal government, and the province is now awaiting an agreement on the same over the following weeks.
Business groups are early waiting for the federal government to act on the proposal, as these new changes will help the Quebec Business community to meet its labour market shortage, and they will be able to begin the recruitment as soon as they hear about the agreement from the Canadian government.
A few groups are still requesting a few more in-depth revisions to the program, even after the deployment of these new measures.
In a press release, the President-director general of the Quebec Employers Council, Karl Blackburn, said, “The relaxations announced today will greatly facilitate the use and flexibility of the TFWP, but the next step is an in-depth review of this federal program in order to adjust it to the current context.”
The shortage of labour force was already significantly impacting the Canadian province of Quebec. However, due to the pandemic, the situation has worsened in the province, and as a result, various business groups and employers have highlighted the need for increased immigration in the province to help recover the economy and meet the labour requirements.
Over the last few months, Quebec has implemented many measures with the federal government to provide more flexibility to applicants under the TFWP, which will help the province to bring more foreign workers in the province and will also simplify the process applications for candidates with less specialized occupations.
Quebec’s immigration is making significant efforts to simplify the application and processing process, as the province’s immigration process is complex and time-consuming, even for recruiting temporary foreign workers. In addition, many positions are required to be advertised, and the employer needs to complete a Labour Market Assessment Impact (LMIA) before making an application for the work permit. Furthermore, these documents are to be submitted to both the Canadian government and Quebec’s government.
In an interview, Minister Boulet stated, “This measure represents “one of the options” for dealing with labour shortages. It will not meet all of our needs, but it will allow our companies to substantially increase their number of employees.”
Once Quebec’s government has the approval from the federal government on these new changes, these will be implemented until December 2023.
