Quebec’s construction industry will need to hire an additional 11,000 workers per year in order to keep pace with the infrastructure projects the provincial government has planned as part of its post-pandemic economic stimulus package.

That package, passed in December, fast-tracked 180 infrastructure projects around the province, including highway extensions, new elderly care homes and school renovations.

The government has earmarked $3 billion in infrastructure spending for the current financial year.

But in order to make the projects happen, the construction industry will need to address a labour shortage that was an issue even before the pandemic started, Labour Minister Jean Boulet said Sunday.

Boulet and Treasury Board President Sonia LeBel announced the government would spend around $120 million over the next three years to help ensure the construction industry can meet the demand created by the stimulus.

“Because of the pandemic we need to make sure we have strong measures to jump start the economy. Investing in infrastructure … has been proven to be very efficient for jump starting the economy,” LeBel said at a news conference in Montreal.

“That being said, if we do have a massive injection of money in that sector we have to make sure that sector is able to respond.”

The new funding for the construction industry includes $32.4 million over three years for addressing the tight labour market.

Boulet said the government wants to help companies hire more women, immigrants, visible minorities and members of Indigenous and Inuit communities, as well as people with disabilities.

“These are obvious sources of labour that are really necessary,” he said.

This could mitigate some of the gendered inequalities that economists have warned are likely to arise if governments opt for conventional approaches to dealing with the slowdown caused by the pandemic.

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