Mr. Speaker, while we share the member's concern with the volatility facing manufacturing and the forestry sectors in his province, we note that the larger Quebec economy remains very healthy, with the unemployment rate at a 33 year low of 6.8%. This January alone, 7,200 new jobs, mostly full time, were created in that province.
As McGill University economics professor, Tom Velk, pointed out in The Montreal Gazette, he said that most of those new jobs were from the private sector and outside of export dominated industries.
Indeed, some sectors in Quebec are even facing skills shortages.
As John Simonetti, the president of a Montreal employment agency, recently noted, finding people to fill vacancies in many industries is an increasingly difficult challenge. He said, “We can't find people, that's the problem. There is a shortage of skilled, experienced people in certain fields”.
Clearly, Quebec and Canada still have solid economic fundamentals as demonstrated through our robust labour market, fundamentals that we will build on to ensure Canada remains well positioned to face any volatility.