Quebec’s Bill 96 will widen a problematic skills gap – unless province invests in closing it
A significant portion of Quebec’s labour force suffers from what amounts to a skills gap.
The province’s anglophone-rights advocates are, unsurprisingly, beside themselves. The Quebec Community Groups Network called the law “the most significant derogation of human rights in the history of Quebec and Canada.” “Successful Quebec companies need to rely on global recruitment and immigration to fuel innovation, and bringing newcomers to Quebec is more difficult under the requirements of the new language law,” the letter says.
The result is that English-speaking workers either don’t get jobs, or end up in jobs that don’t take full advantage of their other skills besides language. Mr. Salter notes that 2016 census data showed that anglophone unemployment was two percentage points higher than francophone unemployment. The median after-tax income for anglophones was $2,800 lower.
“We’ve done a lot of work looking at, ‘Is Quebec a good place to learn French?’ What we actually found out is, the answer is no. There’s a patchwork of programs that exists, but the offerings are fairly inadequate,” Mr. Salter said.“Now you’re bringing in a law that increases the amount of presence of French in the workplace, and you haven’t built the [language training] infrastructure. So these structural problems are likely to get worse, in the absence of some significant investment.
But the justification is the economic payoff that would result: unlocking a segment of the work force that has long been under-employed, upgrading labour productivity, and ultimately improving the province’s economic potential.
Canada Latest News, Canada Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Quebec moving day could see record number of tenants without somewhere to live - Montreal | Globalnews.caA Quebec housing advocacy group says it's worried there will be a record number of households left without somewhere to live as of the province's July 1 moving day.
Read more »
Quebec could see increase in unhoused people as leases expire across province: housing group
Read more »
Quebec gynecologists upset they weren't told of plan to replace pap tests with HPV tests | CBC NewsQuebec gynecologists say the province's plan to use HPV tests as its main tool to screen for cervical cancer will take a year or even longer to implement.
Read more »
Opinion | It’s time to fix the rules of the electoral game and widen the pool of playersMoney should not bar potential political candidates from running for office, but it is a significant factor in Canadian politics at all levels of government. It’s time we made these rules more equitable. Opinion by Amanda Bittner
Read more »
Opinion | We need insects — it’s time to stop the hateOpinion: Slaughter of everything from cicadas to caterpillars is celebrated as funny and understandable, but this aggression will not stand. We need insects. It’s time to stop the hate. Insect loss is a global, extinction-heralding problem.
Read more »