2023-10-02 04:00:00
The words of Prime Minister Legault towards SMEs, made last week on the occasion of the announcement of the construction of the Northvolt factory, on the South Shore of Montreal, will have left a bitter taste in many entrepreneurs .
“For men and women who have created their own jobs, who run their businesses at arm’s length by often working the equivalent of eight days a week to compensate for the labor crisis, hearing such things from the mouth of the Prime Minister, can only be discouraging,” reacted the vice-president of the Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB), François Vincent.
Similar reaction from Quebec Manufacturers & Exporters (MEQ): “Manufacturing SMEs are the lungs of the economy. They have shaped Quebec and continue to create wealth in all regions,” felt the need to remind its CEO, Véronique Proulx, on Friday.
Invest or die
Thursday, questioned about the province’s ability to meet Northvolt’s needs for 3,000 new workers by 2027, without drawing on employees from surrounding companies in doing so, François Legault did not beat around the bush.
François Legault, Premier of Quebec, during the announcement of the Swedish Northvolt mega-factory in Quebec for the manufacturing of lithium-ion batteries in Saint-Basile-le-Grand and McMasterville (Montreal, September 28, 2023) . Photo Pierre-Paul Poulin / Le Journal de Montréal / Agence QMI
These companies will have two choices, he explained: either they will choose to invest to increase their productivity and thus offer better wages, or they will have to disappear.
“There are SMEs that existed because they paid their employees less than in the United States and could [pour cette raison] export their products to the United States, the Prime Minister let down. These SMEs, their challenge [sera] to be able to pay more [leurs employés] […] by improving their productivity. We will not hide it, it is a real challenge. »
Later, in an interview with TVA, François Legault added: “Our objective is that the person who wins [actuellement] $20 an hour is capable of fetching a salary of $35 or $40 an hour at Northvolt. »
Bad timing
For Étienne Claessens, founding president of Soluflex, specializing in the provision of human resources services for SMEs, the Prime Minister is undoubtedly not wrong to insist on the importance for companies to continue to invest in the modernization (digitization, robotization, etc.) of their ways of doing things.
Étienne Claessens, founding president of Soluflex. Courtesy
The problem, in his opinion, is that the message is being delivered to them at the very moment when borrowing costs are reaching peaks, that their payroll is already growing, and that with a recession approaching, several are worried about a reduction in their sales.
“In such a context,” he asks, “what’s the worst that could happen to them, do you think?” Well for some it would be realizing that their best people might eventually give in to the charms [et aux salaires] of a new large company freshly arrived in the region. If they still have the means, they will have to adjust, otherwise unfortunately risk difficulties. »
Call for help
The problem, in the opinion of the vice-president of the CFIB, François Vincent, is that the Prime Minister speaks as if SMEs did not want to invest. “But,” he said, “of course they want to invest. But how do you expect most to achieve this in a province where the obstacles to entrepreneurship are among the highest in the country? »
According to the results of a survey by the employers’ organization, released on Friday, no less than 51% of SME owners say that their borrowing costs affect their activities, a level never reached since 2009.
Véronique Proulx, President and CEO of Manufacturers & Exporters of Quebec (MEQ). Toma Iczkovits / QMI Agency
The employers’ organization hopes that Quebec will take advantage of its next fall economic update to announce new measures to support businesses faced with the need to modernize their activities.
Véronique Proulx, for her part, advises the CAQ government of François Legault to avoid putting the different sectors of the economy into confrontation.
“The battery sector is a good thing for the manufacturing sector, but all efforts cannot be devoted solely to this sector,” says the CEO of MEQ. The government should do more to find workers and better support training and the technological shift. »
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