Premier François Legault showed little openness to raising immigration levels, which the business community is demanding, on the sidelines of a speech on Monday about his economic strategy.
“Companies want to have as many workers available as possible so they can pay the lowest wages, but we have to be careful,” Legault replied in a press scrum after his presentation at the Beauharnois hydroelectric plant.
He reiterated the government’s target of welcoming 45,000 permanent immigrants. He argued that the economic slowdown is preventing a faster increase in the labor pool.
“Our labour forecasts indicate that the economic situation is not looking good in the coming months,” stated the CAQ premier. “We risk lacking more jobs than employees.”
Immigration was absent from Legault’s speech. However, the issue remains crucial, according to Julie White, President and CEO of Quebec Manufacturers and Exporters.
“It’s clear that if we look at the long term, we’re going to need a lot more workers,” Ms. White stated. “The demographic curve is what it is. Companies are doing what they can to recruit in Quebec. There simply aren’t enough workers on the ground. ”
Legault unveiled a grand-scale summary of his government’s economic strategy, less than a year before the next election campaign. This public relations exercise comes at a time when the Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ) is at its lowest point in the polls.
The premier used the event to reiterate his belief in economic interventionism. “Not to manage businesses, but to help entrepreneurs who have good ideas, but who may not have deep enough pockets to implement them,” he summarized.
The interventionism of the Legault government has been the subject of criticism, particularly with the publicized failure of battery sector projects, notably Northvolt.
There was little new in the broad outlines of the economic vision presented by the premier.
The Legault government will rely on Hydro-Québec’s massive investment plan, on reducing bureaucracy to make the “state more efficient” and on economic interventionism to propel “Quebec’s economic champions”.
Legault also presented increased military spending and the development of critical minerals as strategic opportunities for Quebec.
Legault indicated that his economic vision was a response to the uncertain global context resulting from the Trump administration’s trade policies. “There is an urgent need to replace lost jobs .”
Liberal leader Pablo Rodriguez criticized Legault’s speech. “We were given a list of obvious points, without a concrete plan to implement them,” he said.
The leader of the Parti Québécois, Paul St-Pierre Plamondon, criticized the Legault government’s interventionist approach. “We can’t afford François Legault’s completely improvised ‘new economic vision,’” he wrote on X.
“We are faced with a model where, essentially, tax money is taken from all businesses and put into the hands of only a few,” he responded. “It’s counterproductive and unsustainable.”
–This report by La Presse Canadienne was translated by CityNews
