See the original article (french only) : Le Soleil
Companies' need for talent and skills is at the heart of the Cap sur la croissance think tank, established in collaboration with the Québec City Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
“Thanks to the remarkable involvement of all the experts and partners who participated in the reflection and in the four Cap sur la croissance meetings, as well as to the support of the two levels of government and the City of Québec, we now have a solid, bold and concrete game plan for each of the nine strategic economic sectors of the Québec City region,” said Steeve Lavoie, President and CEO of the Québec City Chamber of Commerce and Industry, on Wednesday, during a press conference.
In all, the nine sectoral action plans include 29 approaches and 147 actions to use the lessons learned by Quebec and Canadian businesses during the pandemic as a driver for change. Last February, some 100 experts participated in the four Cap sur la croissance focus groups.
In the final version of this economic development plan, cultural industries could be entitled to an increase in the amounts granted for bursaries, in addition to a relaxation of the criteria to help graduates and artists at the beginning of their careers. A possible increase in the amounts dedicated to psychological services for cultural workers could also be implemented.
For the tourism sector, students could see the cancellation of the Student Financial Assistance calculation for money earned at the end of the summer period. It is also proposed that the Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy and the Canada Emergency Rent Subsidy be maintained during the recovery.
The document also mentions reskilling of health workers so as to provide them with training to perform exclusive medical acts in order to create specialized teams for emergency situations.
An in-house solution to the labour shortage
This economic think tank also proposes to simplify the immigration process and the recognition of immigrants' diplomas and skills, in addition to encouraging experienced workers from different sectors to stay or return to the labour market in Quebec.
“We know that in Québec City, there is actually full employment and in Montréal, there are still many people who are still looking for work and often they are immigrants,” adds Mélanie Joly, Canada's Minister of Economic Development and Official Languages, referring to the efforts that Québec International wants to make to encourage Montréal's workforce to settle in Québec City.
Québec International is an agency that contributes to the economic development of the Québec City metropolitan area and its influence around the world.
These are the sectors included in Cap sur la croissance:
- Life sciences and health technologies sector;
- Agri-food sector;
- Manufacturing sector;
- Clean technology sector;
- Transport and logistics sector;
- Cultural industries sector;
- Social economy;
- Urban dynamism;
- Tourism sector.
