MONTREAL –A coalition of business groups is sounding the alarm over a massive labour shortage provincewide.
“We are living in crisis. For real,” said François Vincent, vice-president of the Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB), Quebec division.
According to a recent survey of small to medium businesses in Quebec, three-fifths suggested refraining from starting a business in this climate.
There are currently 220,000 vacant positions across the province.
Karl Blackburn, CEO of the Quebec employer’s council (CPQ), says immigration is one solution.
“That’s why we propose more than 70,000 immigrants a year for the coming years,” he said.
In that same survey, some 45 per cent of small and medium-sized businesses reported they’ve had to turn down sales or contracts because of a lack of workers.
The business groups point out that the labour shortage didn’t start out with the pandemic, but it certainly made it worse.
“When the economy started back up again, the labour shortage came …