Planning immigration to meet Quebec’s needs

The Chamber presented its brief titled Planning Immigration to Meet Quebec’s Meeds before the Committee on Citizen Relations as part of the multi-year immigration planning process.

The hiring challenges employers are facing are being put into sharp relief by the continuing growth of the Quebec and Montréal economies and the vibrant labour market combined with the current major demographic crunch. In this context, the Chamber believes that it is essential for the government to establish an immigration plan that helps meet the needs of the Quebec economy.

Here is the summary of our main recommendations:

Recommendation n^o 1: Implement semi-annual consultations with companies and the organizations that represent them in order to evaluate labour needs.
 
Recommendation no 2: Annually adjust the Arrima platform’s selection criteria to reflect the evolving needs of the labour market.

Recommendation n^o 3: Require every professional order to present a plan to offer paths to accreditation within a 12-month period.

Recommendation n^o 4: Pursue efforts to integrate new arrivals, evaluate the results of different initiatives and ensure that new arrivals are aware of the services offered.

Recommendation n^o 5: Increase immigration levels to meet employers’ labour needs:

• First of all, aim to accept a minimum of 60,000 immigrants per year;
• Then, raise the number of immigrants accepted in proportion to Quebec’s demographic weight in Canada (23%).

Recommendation n^o 6: Progressively increase economic immigration until it reaches at least 65% of total immigration.

Recommendation n^o 7: In collaboration with the federal government, reinforce the measures that facilitate the transition from temporary to permanent status for temporary foreign workers that meet the needs of the labour market.

Recommendation n^o 8: Undertake a careful analysis of the human and financial resources needed to quickly process all files received through the Arrima system, and provide more resources if necessary.

Recommendation n^o 9: Undertake a vast public relations effort both in Quebec and internationally to highlight the importance of being open to immigration and to portray Quebec as an ideal destination for foreign talent.