On October 30, the government of François Legault suspended two important permanent immigration programs. What could be the consequences of this decision in the Suroît region? We discussed this with Josiane Leblanc from the Campi Agency and Francine St-Denis and Alina Buhlac from the Réseaux organization. 

The first one set up its business to assist businesses that receive immigrant labour in order to facilitate the integration of workers coming from far away. The latter are employed by Réseaux, an organization in Vaudreuil-Soulanges that offers a range of services to immigrant clients. 

”At present, the Salaberry-de-Valleyfield area is not yet affected by the changes in the law. It could be, however, if the unemployment rate exceeds 6% in its territory. In Vaudreuil-Soulanges, that is the case. This is the main factor on which the government relies to suspend processing of applications sent under the LMIA (Labour Market Impact Assessment). What is the LMIA? It’s a document that an employer must obtain before hiring a foreign worker. To sum up, employers who want to hire immigrant workers in a business located in an area where the unemployment rate is over 6% cannot and will not be able to do so for the next few months,” summarizes Ms. Leblanc.  

This means that companies that have filed an LMIA application by October 30, will not be reimbursed.

” Each company that wants to hire a foreign worker must pay a fee of $444 per applicant for this application only. Unemployment rate by region is updated every three months. If a region suspends applications because the unemployment rate exceeds the 6% threshold, businesses lose their deposits and have to restart the process when the program is reopened.” 

Choose who stays and who leaves 

Another downside for businesses: the change in immigration law means that they will have to hire less foreign labour in 2025.

” Up to the last few months, 30% of its workforce could come from elsewhere. Over the next few months, this threshold will be lowered to 10%, which is very little for a large company. For example, a place with 400 employees will only have 40 immigrant workers. That’s not much. In some cases, companies will have to make choices among their workers to determine who stays and who leaves. It will be cruel decisions, because some workers are well established and integrated among us,” image Ms. Leblanc. 

Since October 31, it is no longer possible to submit new applications in the Quebec Graduates and Quebec Experience Program. Both measures are in effect until June 30, 2025 at the latest, when the direction of the next multi-year immigration planning is known.  

”All applications filed in the past weeks under these two programs are frozen. Governments want to lower the threshold for new arrivals in the coming years. It is certain that this will have direct impacts on the workplace. Companies will not be willing or able to renew work permits for some of their employees due to the new rules. We will be in an administrative cul-de-sac that will hurt businesses. When companies hire workers from abroad, they have to show the government that they’ve been working for weeks to find employees and it hasn’t worked. It will take resources to replace the foreign workers who will have to leave the company. Who will replace them? Young people aged 13 or 14”, asks Ms. Leblanc. 

The Regular Skilled Worker Program (QSRP) is on hold until June 2025. On November 29, it will be replaced by the Skilled Worker Selection Program (QPTS). Only those individuals who have been invited by the Department to apply for permanent selection before this deadline will be processed according to the QPRT requirements. Those who have already declared an interest, without receiving an invitation, will be required to update their declaration of interest starting November 29. There is no cost to go through this step,” says Ms. St-Denis, General Manager at Réseaux.   

”International students who are in Quebec are also affected by a change in the law. What they must do first is apply for their Quebec Selection Certificate (CSQ) to obtain permanent residence. The act has just frozen the component that allowed them to do this,” adds Ms. Bulhac, who is the coordinator for immigrant integration at Réseaux. 

What foreign students must do, first of all, is to apply for their Quebec Selection Certificate (CSQ) in order to obtain permanent residence. The law freezes the part that allowed them to do this.

Median wages determined by position 

When recruiting foreign workers, firms must offer the candidate a salary based on a median for each position. One factor that means that not all businesses in the province can afford to hire workers from elsewhere, says Ms. Leblanc. 

”For example, if a company wants to hire a technician who is specialized in the manufacture of specialty products, the technician is protected by government-provided salary scales. He could be paid $32 compared to other employees who do not have a wage grid. This creates a disparity or inequity with other employees in the trade.” 

”However, some areas of employment such as health, food processing, construction and education are excluded from this average wage rule, says St-Denis.  For other areas, companies that decide to hire foreign resources will have to pay them at least $32.96 per hour, which is above the minimum wage. Some companies simply cannot afford to hire foreign workers because of this. Especially since a company that does so will have to pay at least $9,000 to cover the costs of immigration.” 

Ms. St-Denis and her colleague Ms. Bulhac are concerned that child care is not included in the exclusions mentioned above. ”There is a severe shortage of labour in this sector. It would be easier to recruit female educators if we agreed to include them in the list of exclusions,” the couple said. 

They also denounce the francization cuts that have occurred in recent weeks. ”The CSS des Trois-Lacs has reduced its offer of courses in francization, as have several other institutions in Quebec. The newcomers who followed them no longer have classes and no longer receive allowances to follow them. Here at Réseaux, we try to make small groups so that some immigrants can enter the labour market quickly. It is certain that the decision will hurt, since some of the newcomers are not ready to integrate into the labour market because they do not have enough knowledge of the language.” 

In closing, Josiane Leblanc goes even with a dark prediction: “In two years, employers will hire illegal immigrant workers and pay them under the table. This will create a context, as in some companies in the United States, where situations of abuse are multiplying. Otherwise, workers who are integrated into the region will leave for another province in Canada where immigration laws are different,” she concludes.