Quebec persists: there is no question of excluding Montreal daycare services from the moratorium on hiring temporary foreign workers. A motion presented by Québec solidaire (QS) to this effect Wednesday morning in the National Assembly was rejected by the government.
Education was among the exceptions to the freezes on low-wage hiring decreed first by Quebec and then by Ottawa at the end of August, but not the early childhood network. In early September, the Association québécoise des centres de la petite enfance (AQCPE) had asked to be included in this exception since “education does not start at age four,” it was written at the time.
Daycare services can no longer turn to recruiting abroad to fill positions in Montreal. Last year, approximately 200 educators and educational assistants were hired as temporary foreign workers in Montreal, according to the compilation by DutyThe freeze coming from the federal government could affect other cities with unemployment rates of over 6%, including Hull and Laval.
“Currently, there is a six-month moratorium and we will reanalyze the situation after six months,” insisted Minister of Families Suzanne Roy in an impromptu press conference in Quebec City. She thus closed the door to exempting the sector for the moment, adding that “several initiatives” are in place to ensure the quality of services.
In his motion, Solidarity MP Guillaume Cliche-Rivard appealed in particular to the “political legacy of Pauline Marois” and to the “enormous social advance” represented by the establishment of Early Childhood Centres (CPE).
The positions targeted by the freezes by both levels of government are those paid less than $27.47 an hour, the median wage in the province.
Recruitment incentives
The shortage in this sector is recognized by Quebec, which continues to fund the recruitment of educators and educational assistants abroad. Employers — except those under moratorium — can obtain up to $4,000 to participate in a Quebec Day elsewhere in the world, or be reimbursed for certain costs during the process of obtaining work permits.
The Duty revealed last year that the government is spending tens of millions of dollars to recruit overseas in sectors it considers critical.
The two early childhood education professions also appear on a list of jobs designated as being in shortage in Quebec and eligible for simplified processing to obtain the necessary papers.
With Marie-Michèle Sioui, parliamentary correspondent in Quebec
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