Faced with the ineffectiveness of the program, the Legault government must put an end to accelerated and paid training in construction, claims the liberal opposition, while only a quarter of the registered students end up on construction sites in Quebec.
No less than 3,854 people followed one of the four professional study certificates paid $750 per week in the first phase of the training offensive which began in January. Among them, 2,481 have obtained their diploma (64%), but only 1,017 (26%) have actually entered the industry so far, revealed Le Journal.
“As we predicted, this government program has clearly failed to respond to the critical labor needs in construction,” responded Liberal MP Madwa-Nika Cadet on Monday.
According to her, the lack of preparation and the absence of measures to ensure a successful transition to the industry demonstrate that the file was managed in a “rushed and ineffective” manner.
“The government should have better supervised these training courses to ensure that students are motivated by a real desire to work in this sector,” she argued.
Remember that the financial support granted by Quebec to these students was not accompanied by an obligation to go and work on construction sites.
The government has nevertheless launched a second phase of this offensive, in which 1,828 new students have participated since the start of the school year. They benefit from the same financial support.
Waste of public funds
The Parti Québécois points out the high cost of the operation for Quebec taxpayers. “It was already very expensive for the expected results. Today we realize to what extent this electoral communication stunt is another squandering of public funds,” underlines PQ MP Pascal Paradis.
If three out of four registered students are not active on construction sites, this means that three quarters of the budget allocated to accelerated training, or $225 million, has not produced results, he insists. “The government cannot continue the program as if nothing had happened. We have to review everything from top to bottom.”
Attracting immigration candidates
“It’s another failure of the CAQ,” said the Quebec Solidaire MP, Alexandre Leduc, who underlines that this fiasco could very well have been avoided if we had first felt the pulse of the industry before launching the program.
Solidarity is bringing forward its proposal to attract immigration candidates to the construction sector.
QS suggests targeting non-permanent residents who are already in Quebec, such as asylum seekers, people with work permits on construction sites or holders of open work permits. Choosing the construction industry would give them access to a Quebec selection certificate, a document that eventually leads to obtaining permanent residence.
“Minister Jean Boulet will have to show us that it is still useful, otherwise I think that in the coming weeks, coming months, he will have to draw the line,” believes MP Leduc.
Boulet asks for more time
On social networks, the Minister of Labor maintained that the training not only allowed the addition of new workers, but that it also formed a more versatile, more productive workforce and freed up additional resources on construction sites.
“The offensive is still welcomed by industry players today. Training is still ongoing and we are far from knowing the final impact of this initiative,” he published on X.
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