Thank you for inviting me, Mr. Chair and members of the committee.
Table Métal Abitibi-Ouest is a group of seven companies specializing in metal fabrication, with just over 500 workers in the Abitibi-Témiscamingue region of Quebec. Our organization wants to explain our situation and suggest quick solutions that could help us continue to grow despite the labour shortage. We also wish to stress the urgent need for action, because the labour shortage will last for several years.
Like everywhere else in the country, our growth is limited right now by the labour shortage. Every week, we have to turn down client requests because we do not have the necessary staff to respond. This labour shortage leads to a rapid increase in salaries, which also makes us less competitive.
Moreover, we are afraid that our so-called remote region could become a region where people only go to work, unless we find solutions to attract workers and to keep them in the region so they can contribute to the local economy.
We are already reaching out to youth and the unemployed by training them directly in our companies. We have prepared training programs in conjunction with skills training centres and the government departments concerned. Education level is a problem in a number of cases, however, given the low rate of literacy and numeracy.
Automation and robotics are already an essential part of our growth strategies. Yet technology often requires different, highly-skilled workers who have to adapt to change. Further, technology does not lend itself to all tasks. We are not in manufacturing or series production, as we focus primarily on custom products. Most SMEs do not have the necessary resources to deal with all this change management, in terms of both technology and human resources.
Today, we would like to focus on a few solutions that we think could be implemented quickly to attract workers.
There are two potential pools of candidates in which changes are needed if we want to attract, integrate and facilitate the arrival of workers.
The first group is temporary foreign workers and immigrant candidates.
The process for temporary foreign workers is very cumbersome and onerous for SMEs. One of the main difficulties is the length of labour market impact assessments, or LMIAs, which themselves can take several months, not to mention the time required to advertise certain jobs.
Also problematic is the shortage of federal immigration officers working in Quebec who are familiar with the specifics of the relationship between our two levels of government as regards immigration.
The increase in average salaries, not to mention trades, is an important issue that negatively impacts the financial performance of companies that cannot pay high salaries.
Having easy access to information on the status of files and having the computer resources to consult the files and their status, without having to speak to an agent, would be helpful to companies. There is significant difficulty communicating with officers. At present, companies have to be available at all times to return calls, which is not very practical.
It is essential that regional offices be created to meet immigration needs. Right now, foreign workers have to travel to major cities to obtain passports and visas and for medical and biometric tests. Further, regions should be treated in accordance with their characteristics, which can differ from those of major cities.
Similar to what is in place with France, we need more agreements with certain countries in order to accelerate immigration processes and fill the specialized job vacancies that we have.
Finally, procedures to obtain family visas must be simplified so that families can more quickly come to join the workers.
The second group of candidates I want to talk about is experienced workers.
We need more tax incentives to encourage them to remain in or return to the labour market. We have to popularize mentorship programs and better structure them so that knowledge can be shared with upcoming generations.
In all these cases, we are talking about human beings, integration, and innovative practices to address an unprecedented labour shortage. SMEs will also need better support in the area of human resources management. Many SMEs cannot afford the costs associated with immigration processes and the necessary internal staff. Subsidizing the salary of one or more employees, or even offering a tax credit, based on the companies' needs, could be another solution.
We all have to work together to find innovative, short-term solutions to enable Canada to continue to grow economically and to prevent a decline of the resource-rich regions that make up the country.
In short, here are the solutions that would provide great relief, and quickly: eliminating LMIAs for trades where there is a shortage; ready access to information on immigration files; access to regional offices that offer all the necessary immigration services; creating new financial assistance programs to cover the cost of recruitment and internal staff; accelerating the selection process of Immigration Canada officers for Quebec; and reducing source deductions for experienced workers.
Thank you for your attention.
I will be pleased to answer your questions.