Vaudreuil-Soulanges seeks special status as temporary foreign workers leave for Ontario

In Vaudreuil-Soulanges, west of Montreal, officials are seeking a special status to negate the labour shortage as foreign workers leave for Ontario.

Vaudreuil-Dorion’s anticipated new hospital is scheduled to open its doors in 2028.

Beside the large construction site stands a billboard advertising jobs.

It’s estimated the new hospital will create 3,500 new jobs, but Danie Deschenes, chair of Developpement Vaudreuil-Soulanges (DEV), said filling these posts will be a challenge since the region is already undergoing a severe labour shortage.

“The hospital is almost ready and we’re not,” said Deschenes, who is also the mayor of Notre-Dame-de-L’île-Perrot.

Deschenes said the region currently has 1,000 job vacancies they are unable to fill, and the situation has only worsened since changes to Quebec’s immigration laws.

“We are expecting within the next few years to be looking for at least 10,000 jobs, so we can’t just exchange people. We need new people. We need people who are here now, ready to work,” she said.

The Programme de l’expérience québécoise (PEQ) was abolished by Quebec in November. Deschenes said it’s already led some temporary foreign workers to leave for Ontario, only 20 minutes away.

That’s why the DEV has called on Quebec to give the region a territorial exemption allowing it to keep temporary foreign workers currently employed in the region and facilitate future recruitment.

“We are so close to the competition in terms of employment,” Deschenes added.

Martine Murray, who works in human resources at Sanivac, a sanitation company that employs more than 300 workers in the region, said that whether it’s the nature of the job or the skill sets required, they have been unable to find enough workers in Quebec and rely on international recruitment.

With the abolition of PEQ, she said some of their employees have decided to leave.

“We’re not necessarily losing them because of the French language, we are losing them to other provinces who will offer them permanent residency faster, who will offer them more stability, three-year contracts, and all those things,” she said.

Murray said they are seeking a grandfather clause for their current employees and said they are trying to recruit more workers from French-speaking countries.

“We’re trying to save the situation as much as we can,” she said.