Agreement No. 5 to amend the Canada-Québec Labour Market Development Agreement in Principle

List of acronyms and abbreviations

Canada: The Government of Canada

CANSIM: Canadian Socio-Economic Information Management System 

EI: Employment Insurance

NAICS: North American Industry Classification System

Québec: The Government of Québec

The Agreement: Canada-Québec Labour Market Agreement in Principle

The Implementation Agreement: Canada-Québec Labour Market Implementation Agreement

Between

The Government of Canada, hereinafter referred to as “Canada”, represented by the Minister of Employment and Social Development and the Canada Employment Insurance Commission.

And

The Government of Québec, hereinafter referred to as “Québec”, represented by the Ministre de l’Emploi et de la Solidarité sociale and the Ministre responsable des Relations canadiennes et de la Francophonie canadienne.

Hereinafter referred to as “the Parties”.

Preamble

Whereas the Parties concluded the Canada-Québec Labour Market Agreement in Principle (hereinafter “Agreement”) on April 21, 1997, pursuant to which Canada and Québec agreed on the provisions for implementing active employment measures in Québec funded from the Employment Insurance Account;

Whereas the Parties concluded the Canada-Québec Labour Market Implementation Agreement (hereinafter “the Implementation Agreement”) on November 28, 1997, in order to implement the Canada-Québec Labour Market Agreement in Principle;

Whereas the Agreement was amended on July 20, 2007, April 30, 2009, August 25, 2014, and December 21, 2016;

Whereas Quebec’s forest industry and related industries are currently facing considerable economic adjustments that result in significant negative impacts on jobs and workers in Québec;

Whereas given the unique nature of the situation in Québec, Canada is prepared to  provide a one-time targeted increase to the federal contribution to the costs of active employment measures in Québec for fiscal year 2017-2018 provided under the Agreement to support workers directly or indirectly affected by the economic adjustments in Québec;

Whereas the Parties agreed to amend the Agreement to reflect this one-time increase to the federal contribution to the costs of the active employment measures in Québec.

Therefore, the Parties agree to amend the Agreement, as amended from time to time, as follows:

Clauses

1. The Agreement is amended with the addition of the following title and section after section 7C:

   “One-time targeted increase in the contribution to the costs of active employment measures in Québec

   7D. Notwithstanding the provisions in section 7, for fiscal year 2017-2018, Canada has decided to increase the maximum contribution payable under section 7 towards the cost of active employment measures in Québec by an amount not exceeding the amount determined by the following formula:

   (A/B) x $25 million

   Where

   A is the total number of people employed in the forest sector in Québec in 2015 based on the CANSIM table 383-0031 under North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) codes 113, 1153, 321 and 322; and

   B is the total number of people employed in the forest sector in the five provinces with the most individuals employed in the forest sector in 2015 based on the CANSIM table 383-0031 under North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) codes 113, 1153, 321 and 322.

   As a result of this formula, Québec will receive an additional amount of $8,244,567 in 2017-2018, which will be paid in two installments.

   7D.1 The amount of the first installment will be equal to half (50%) of the increase determined under section 7D of the Agreement for fiscal year 2017-2018, or $4,122,283, and will be paid upon the coming into force of this amending agreement.

   7D.2 The amount of the second installment will be equal to the other half (50%) of the increase, or $4,122,284, and will be paid at the request of Québec. Such a request must be received by Canada no later than December 31, 2017.

   7D.3 Québec agrees that it will identify the use of this additional funding for the specific purpose of supporting workers who are directly or indirectly affected by the economic adjustments facing Quebec’s forest industry and related industries in its audited financial report submitted to Canada under the Agreement.”

2. The Parties agree that no part of this amending agreement will have an impact on how Canada allocates the current Employment Insurance funding ($1.95 billion per year) when determining the maximum annual amount of contributions paid to Québec, in accordance with section 7.1 of the Agreement. The Parties acknowledge that the current method set out in section 7.1 of the Agreement for allocating the current $1.95 billion to the provinces and territories is the allocation method described in the letter dated June 26, 1996, from the Deputy Minister of the Department of Human Resources Development Canada to the Secrétaire général associé des Affaires intergouvernementales canadiennes du Québec.
3. In all other respects, the Agreement shall remain unchanged.
4. This amending agreement shall be read together with the Agreement and the Implementation Agreement, as amended from time to time, and takes effect as if its provisions were part of the Agreement.
5. This amending agreement comes into force once it has been signed by both Parties.

Signed on behalf of Canada in Gatineau this 23 day of February 2018

Signed on behalf of Québec in Québec this 19 day of December 2017