It will soon be easier for French workers to cross the Atlantic to work in Quebec than it is for other Canadians to work in the province.
Under a new manpower mobility agreement, French professionals such as doctors, dentists, lawyers and even midwives will have unconstrained access to the Quebec labour market. So will French tradesmen such as painters, brick-layers, heavy equipment operators and elevator maintenance workers. The same will apply for Quebeckers who want to work in France.
By the end of next year a dozen professions and almost as many trades in France and Quebec will be deregulated. The total number will climb to about 100 by the end of 2010.
The agreement was signed by Premier Jean Charest and French President Nicolas Sarkozy who has arrived in Quebec to attend the 12th Francophonie summit that is being held in Quebec City to mark the city's 400th anniversary.
It is an unprecedented arrangement between a Canadian province and a foreign country where Quebec is taking full advantage of its privileged diplomatic relations with France. The bilateral agreement lifts most barriers that normally apply to foreigners seeking jobs in Quebec's tightly regulated trades and professions labour market.
The Minister of International relations Monique Gagnon-Tremblay recognizes that the fact French workers will have easier access to the Quebec market that Canadians from other provinces is an anomaly.
“There are too many regulations among provinces,” the Minister said. “It's abnormal but we hope negotiations among the provinces will eventually make mobility it easier. It is inadmissible that we can have a deal like this with France but not among ourselves.”
Rather than take a minimum of 18 months- or even as much as three years for certain professionals such as architects- to obtain proper qualifications to work in Quebec, French workers will be admitted to the Quebec job market within a few weeks after meeting certain public safety standards.
The agreement is aimed at helping Quebec respond to an anticipated labour shortage over the coming years. The province estimates that it will need 700,000 more workers between now and 2011, including 14,000 construction workers a year over the next 5 years.
Under the agreement, French workers will no longer be admitted on a case by case basis. Instead Quebec and France will accept the equivalence of each others degrees and training certificates allowing for job applicants to be fast-tracked into the labour market. Workers will be free to work a few years and leave or apply for citizenship if they decide to stay.
“The professional federations in France and Quebec have examined their own particular situations and are defining the quickest way for professionals or trade workers to get access to the labour market,” said Quebec's chief negotiator Gil Rémillard, a former Quebec Liberal minister of intergovernmental affairs. “There is nothing to compare with this type of economic and trade situation we now have with France.”
The government hopes that by facilitating access to the labour market, it will attract even more investments from France, which has already has about 300 companies set-up in the province in lucrative fields such as the aerospace and pharmaceutical sectors.
“These negotiations took months to achieve. They were very difficult but the end result is quite spectacular and it is unlike anything that exists elsewhere between two states that so far apart geographically,” said Quebec's associate deputy-minister of International Affairs Hélène Latouche.
Quebec is convinced that the agreement will open the door to similar deal with other European countries especially if Canada succeeds in reaching a trans-Atlantic trade deal with the European Union.
“This agreement could serve as a model and that is why it is so historic. Other countries are knocking at our door,” the Minister said referring to North African countries that showed interest in a similar deal.
