Employers say immigration changes will push businesses to leave Quebec

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The federal and provincial governments are putting polls ahead of prosperity as they tighten immigration rules, according to Quebec’s largest employers group, which says some recent changes could force businesses to move production elsewhere.

Conseil du patronat du Québec president and CEO Karl Blackburn said Thursday that with an aging population, Quebec companies need immigrants to fill positions left empty by retiring workers, but the federal and provincial governments aren’t consulting with businesses as they make changes to immigration programs.

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“We need stability, we need certainty and we need to know where we’re going so we can plan our operations as entrepreneurs,” Blackburn told reporters. 

Changes to the temporary foreign workers program announced last week by the federal government cap the number of low-wage foreign workers a business can employ and increase the minimum salary at which temporary foreign workers are considered “high wage.” This will make Quebec businesses less competitive and force them to refuse contracts, Blackburn said.

Donna Noble, financial controller and director of human resources at Matritech, a Drummondville company that makes metal components, said her company employs 21 temporary foreign workers, around 18 per cent of its workforce.

With the new changes, she told reporters at the same news conference, her company will have to let nine or 10 of those skilled employees go.

While it could keep the employees by increasing their wages to the “high wage” level, a little less than $33 an hour, Noble said that would cost around $1.5 million, a cost Matritech can’t pass on to its customers without becoming uncompetitive.

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Hiring replacements in Quebec is almost impossible, Noble said.

It’s a similar story for SP Apparel, which makes uniforms for NHL teams and Olympic athletes, said owner and CEO Steve Bérard. Without foreign workers, his company would have to move some of its operations outside Quebec.

“We have the opportunity to grow, we have the opportunity to get new contracts, we regularly have people knocking on our door and we have to say no because we don’t have the capacity,” he said. 

The federal government’s changes come amid growing concerns about the effect of immigration on the availability and affordability of housing, as well as pressures on social services. In Quebec, the number of temporary residents — which includes workers, students and asylum seekers — has doubled since 2021 to around 600,000 people.

The criticism of the federal government’s changes to the temporary foreign workers program came hours after Quebec Immigration Minister Jean-François Roberge announced he would freeze two provincially run immigration programs: one that allows foreign workers to permanently immigrate, the other for graduates of Quebec universities.

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That sudden announcement was another sign that governments are not consulting businesses before making changes, Blackburn said.

“What we’re seeing is a series of improvisations that, unfortunately, has real impacts on businesses,” he said.

With more Quebecers leaving the workforce than entering it, the province will need 1.6 million additional workers by 2030, Blackburn said, which has to come from immigration.

“It’s like fishing in an empty lake. We lack labour,” he said.

But some economists have questioned whether immigration is the solution to widespread labour shortages.

Pierre Fortin, an emeritus professor at the Université du Québec à Montréal, said that while individual companies can benefit from hiring immigrants to fill specific roles, his research suggests immigration won’t solve a widespread labour shortage, because growing companies will need more supplies and equipment, and immigrant workers will spend their wages in Canada, increasing the demand for goods and services.

“Since there’s more spending in the economy, this is going to create more demand for labour,” he said in a recent interview. 

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With Quebec’s aging population, the province needs immigrants to avoid population decline, Fortin said, and well-chosen immigrants can bring needed skills and experience, but too much immigration can have a negative effect.

If money that could be used to increase productivity is instead being invested in building housing and other costs associated with rapid population growth, Canada’s overall economy will grow, but the standard of living will decline, he said.

The lack of regulation for temporary immigration has also incentivized companies to look for low-skilled, low-paid workers.

“Obviously, employers want immigrant workers to be paid as little as possible. You are in business because you want to make profits; if labour costs are lower, you will make more profits,” Fortin said.

The Institut du Québec, a Montreal-based think tank, made a similar argument in a report released Wednesday, warning that businesses may decide not to invest in things that would increase productivity if they can rely on cheaper foreign labour.

But Blackburn said that doesn’t tell the whole story about the jobs being filled by temporary immigrants.

“It’s not just low-wage jobs — it’s for all levels,” he said.

If companies reduce production, refuse contracts or move elsewhere because they lack workers, that will reduce Quebec’s productivity, he said. “If employers have access to all the workers they need, that would increase Quebec’s productivity. Unfortunately, that’s not the case.”

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