Immigration Department and Quebec

aging population: While that figure may not appear abnormally low, the province also has a rapidly aging population and a growing shortage of skilled workers, according to CTV. Quebec estimates 1.1 million people will retire between 2013 and 2022 and a recent document published for the Immigration Department said "this situation underscores the need to reassert immigration role and its contribution to Quebec." Immigrants, however, are not spread out evenly across the province, and Statistics Canada estimates visible minority groups will represent 31 per cent of Montreal population by 2031 -- but no more than five per cent everywhere else in Quebec. The province statistics bureau said the 2015 rate was 1.6 children per woman, down one per cent from 2014 and marking the sixth consecutive year it had edged lower. Université de Montreal demographer Marc Termote said he "very, very worried" about the growing cultural and linguistic divisions between Montreal and other cities. "What happening is a profound break between Montreal and the rest of Quebec," he said. Furthermore, Termote said it a widely publicized myth that increasing immigration will help labour shortages or the economy. "All the studies show immigration creates a neutral benefit to the economy," he said. "And we will need to welcome many, many more people than we do now for it to affect our aging population figures or fix labour shortages." Montreal is having trouble integrating the immigrants it already has, with unemployment rates for those born outside Canada at 11 per cent in the city compared to seven per cent for non-immigrants. For example, he explained, there are more immigrants in one of Montreal suburbs, Brossard, than in all of Quebec City, the capital and second-largest city in the province. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.