PQ plan to replace immigrants with robots won’t address key labour market shortages
The Parti Québécois' recent 97-page immigration plan suggests replacing workers with automation in sectors facing labour shortages. However, Assistant Professor of Operations Management Rob Glew argues this approach is flawed. He points out that sectors of Quebec’s economy with the most acute labour shortages don’t lend themselves well to automation, like health care and early childhood education. “To just lump it in that robots are substitutes for immigrants totally misses the point,” Glew tells CTV News. “Canada has tried to build its immigration on a points system that selects immigrants to fill needs in the labour market. If labour shortages aren’t already being addressed with robotics and capital, you’re either forcing the trend in a way it otherwise wouldn’t have gone, or making it more dangerous to fill those needs going forward.”
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