With no response from the government, Quebec's forestry industry is again asking for help from the federal and Quebec governments to cope with the forest fires that disrupted its activities.
After requests that went "unanswered", groups made up of unions and industry representatives appealed directly to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Premier François Legault for immediate assistance at a press conference in Roberval on Wednesday.
"Forestry workers, companies and contractors are still being left to deal with the consequences of the forest fires on their own," said Annie Beaupré, General Manager of the Fédération québécoise des coopératives forestières.
In particular, they are asking for help for seasonal workers. In Quebec, 3,400 workers hold seasonal jobs in the industry. Generally speaking, these workers manage to accumulate enough hours of work to qualify for employment insurance during the period of seasonal unemployment.
"We still don't understand why no measures have been announced to help these workers," laments Ms. Beaupré.
In a context of labor scarcity, companies simply risk losing some workers who won't want to take the risk of not qualifying for seasonal unemployment, warns Unifor's Quebec director Daniel Cloutier. "Many won't qualify. They're not going to stay on hold. They're going to go work somewhere else."
This report was first published in French by The Canadian Press on July 12, 2023.
