Honourable senators, with summer just around the corner and thousands of tourists including us in their vacation plans, the tourism industry is grappling with a labour shortage and struggling to fill certain shifts. There are plenty of customers, but some restaurants are having to stay closed a few nights a week due to a shortage of cooks. Some hotels are so short on staff that they can’t open their pools. The Gaspésie regional tourism board conservatively estimates that it would take 200 workers to fill the gap in that region alone. Things could get even worse in September when the students go back to school, right in the middle of peak tourist season. Joëlle Ross, chair of the Gaspésie regional tourism board, says that due to employee turnover, employers sometimes have to find three people to do a job that used to take just one.

The shortage of skilled labour is stifling our economic development and productivity and threatening the quality of life of entrepreneurs. Who would want to start a business under such conditions? I am very pleased that the most recent budget proposes allocating $60 million to the regional development agencies to create tourism experiences and put more money toward marketing. However, if we don’t take immediate action to resolve the labour shortage, our visitors may not have a good experience and won’t want to come back and visit our regions again.

I’m talking about the tourism industry, but many economic sectors, particularly those in seasonal industries, are affected by the shortage of skilled workers. Take for example, the horticultural sector. Agricultural businesses across Quebec are still waiting for their temporary foreign workers to arrive.

Although Employment and Social Development Canada may have received additional funding to process applications, the industry is still short thousands of workers. However, when we talk to people on the ground, we see that there are measures that could be quickly implemented.

Why not eliminate the Labour Market Impact Assessment for certain sectors? That’s what the Government of Quebec would like to see. Why not relax the Temporary Foreign Workers Program so that once workers are in the country, they can work in a related sector? The Conseil de la transformation alimentaire du Québec has been critical of the fact that field workers can’t be transferred to processing facilities during harvest. It’s just ridiculous.

Employment insurance is also an issue. Until the government changes the program so that it recognizes the value of seasonal workers, businesses will have to grapple with high turnover and some small businesses will close up shop for lack of staff.

Seasonal industries are hardly the only ones dealing with this problem. According to the Canadian Federation of Independent Business, Canada has over 434,000 vacancies in the private sector, and 120,000 of those are in Quebec.

Honourable senators, I believe that addressing the labour shortage must be one of our chief concerns during the next Parliament. In closing, I invite you to come visit eastern Quebec this year. Come see the Lower St. Lawrence, the World Good Life Reserve. Tour the world-renowned Gaspé region and discover the Magdalen Islands. You’ll just love the islands.