Workforce Shortages Mean Significant Financial Losses
We Don’t Have the Luxury of Waiting for the CAQ
For years, François Legault and the CAQ denied the workforce shortage and ignored the significant economic repercussions felt by Quebec’s businesses. Now, three years later, it is clear that the CAQ’s laissez-faire attitude has worsened the situation in all of our regions. This is unacceptable both for the entrepreneurs who experience revenue losses on a daily basis and for Quebecers watching their favourite stores close due to a lack of workers.
The data presented by the Manufacturiers Exportateurs du Québec (MEQ) clearly demonstrates, yet again, the devastating economic impacts caused by Quebec’s workforce shortage, particularly in the regions. According to the study conducted by the MEQ, business losses in Quebec reach up to $18B over a two-year period. That’s the equivalent of 2% of our annual GDP.
While François Legault’s only solution was to ask businesses to increase their salaries, the study presented today demonstrated that on its own, increased salaries would not be sufficient to compensate for businesses’ workforce needs.
The manufacturing sector is a driving force of our economy in many of Quebec regions, employing over 473,000 people and representing 13.5% of our GDP. We need to be listening to the solutions that are coming from local economic players; it’s our regions’ economic development that is at stake!
The current situation is critical for dozens of entrepreneurs who each day ask themselves which contracts they will be unable to fulfill, or which opportunities they will have to set aside. François Legault’s fake solutions can no longer hide his years of standing idly by in the workforce shortages file. One cannot claim to the party focused on the economy and have such a sad track record on their hands. The $18B dollars that have been lost are the proof that Mr. Legault has never been up to the task when it comes to Quebec’s businesses.
– Dominique Anglade, Leader of the Official Opposition
By declaring that we no longer have a choice but to live with workforce shortages, Jean Boulet is abdicating his responsibilities and at the same time announcing Quebec’s economic decline. This would never be a solution for the Quebec Liberal Party, a party that will always seek to develop our regions and instill a strong industrial fabric in all of Quebec’s regions.
– Monsef Derraji, Official Opposition Critic for Economy, Labour and Employment
