Quebec, like the rest of North America, is in the middle of a labour crisis. Too many jobs and not enough people to fill them.
Several factors implemented in response to the pandemic are part of the story. The CERB, restaurant lockdowns, border restrictions, and just plain old fear and uncertainty lead to a reluctance to return to jobs with a risk of exposure to the virus. Many who were laid off because of the pandemic have moved on.
The border shutdown also effectively shut down the Temporary Foreign Worker Program, further reducing the availability of people willing and able to work.
Now that much of this seems to be coming to an end, things may slowly start to return to how they were before. But businesses keen to reopen and get rolling again are finding the people they need just aren’t around.
For some, raising wages to entice more people back to work looks like an obvious solution, but it’s not quite as straightforward as it might seem.
Low wages bedevils rural areas across the country, here included. Businesses struggling to stay afloat in a soft local economy are constrained by what they can pay their staff. Yet prices are going up, making it tougher for everyone to make ends meet.
As in any chicken and egg situation, finding a way to break the cycle is critical. Many things have been proposed and explored.
One has been the long-standing effort to attract industry to the Pontiac. Some have focused on finding some too-good-to-be-true saviour with deep pockets to come and set up a large business here to take over where the iron ore mine and the pulp and paper mill left off, but sadly these efforts have been largely fruitless.
Then there are efforts to support businesses already here and those that could conceivably be developed here using local talent and resources to succeed. There are success stories to suggest this is a promising approach. But, at the end of the day, a key piece has to do with who is going to buy their products and services.
For the local economy to grow beyond what the local population will support, it needs to attract and supply an outside demand. Agriculture and forestry have been doing this for generations. Recreation, tourism and their traveling companions in the food, beverage and entertainment industries are on the upswing.
Meanwhile, we, the people of the Pontiac, need to buy locally as much as possible. Every nickel we spend here goes into the improvement of a local business and the wage of a local worker. Pretty much every nickel you spend elsewhere — whether to buy coffee, food, clothing, hardware or stationery — is going to enrich CEOs and shareholders of multinational companies far away from here. Plus, it costs you gas to get there, and that’s getting pretty expensive.
Some will say they just can’t find what they want to buy here as their reason for shopping elsewhere. Before you take that drive across the river, have you asked a local shopkeeper, who may not have what you’re looking for, if they can get it for you? You might be surprised to see what our local businesses are able and willing to do to earn and keep your business.
By buying locally, we contribute to the local economy, stimulate growth, create jobs and yes, raise wages, which would help make it possible for local talent to stay and work and raise their families here.
If you like the sound of the idea, why not spend your nickels here?
