Agreement to Amend the Canada Quebec Labour Market Agreement in Principle

Between

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

And

The Government of Quebec, hereinafter referred to as “Quebec,” represented by the Ministre de l’Emploi et de la Solidarité sociale and the Ministre responsable des Affaires intergouvernementales canadiennes et de la Réforme des institutions démocratiques

Preamble

Whereas Canada and Quebec concluded the Canada‑Quebec Labour Market Agreement in Principle (LMDA) on April 21, 1997, pursuant to which Canada and Quebec agreed on the provisions for implementing active employment measures in Quebec funded from the Employment Insurance Account;

Whereas Canada and Quebec concluded the Canada‑Quebec Labour Market Agreement (Implementation) on December 1, 1997 in order to implement the Canada‑Quebec Labour Market Agreement in Principle;

Whereas in the 2009 budget, Canada announced various measures to counteract the economic slowdown, including targeted funding of $1 billion allocated over two years to increase the current funding of $1.95 billion paid annually to provinces and territories by the Employment Insurance program in the context of labour market development agreements, in order to broaden access to the training offered by provinces and territories.

Whereas this funding will be allocated to provinces and territories based on their respective portion of unemployed individuals in Canada;

Whereas Quebec announced on March 23, 2009 the Pacte pour l’emploi Plus, which represents further investments of $518 million to consolidate its role and improve its service offering to help individuals and businesses in Quebec affected by the unusual worldwide economic situation;

Whereas the parties agreed to amend the Agreement to reflect the two‑year targeted increase in the federal contribution to the cost of the active employment measures in Quebec;

Therefore, the parties agree to the following:

1. The Canada ‑ Quebec Labour Market Agreement in Principle, hereinafter referred to as “the Agreement,” is amended with the addition of the following title and section after section 7:

   Two‑year targeted increase in the contribution to the cost of active employment measures in Quebec

   “7A. Notwithstanding the provisions in section 7, for each of the 2009‑2010 and 2010‑2011 fiscal years, Canada agrees to increase the maximum contribution payable under section 7 toward the cost of active employment measures in Quebec, by an amount not exceeding the amount, rounded off to the closest thousand, calculated using the following formula:

   C x (A/B)

   where

   C represents $500 million;

   A is the average number of unemployed individuals in Quebec calculated by taking the average,

   • (a) for the 2009‑2010 fiscal year, of the number of unemployed individuals in Quebec for each month between August 2008 and January 2009 inclusive, as determined based on the data from the Statistics Canada Labour Force Survey for those months;
   • (b) for the 2010‑2011 fiscal year, of the number of unemployed individuals in Quebec for each month between August 2009 and January 2010 inclusive, as determined based on the data from the Statistics Canada Labour Force Survey for those months.

   B is the average total number of unemployed individuals in Canada calculated by taking the average,

   • (a) for the 2009‑2010 fiscal year, of the number of unemployed individuals in Canada for each month between August 2008 and January 2009 inclusive, as determined based on the data from the Statistics Canada Labour Force Survey for those months;
   • (b) for the 2010‑2011 fiscal year, of the number of unemployed individuals in Canada for each month between August 2009 and January 2010 inclusive, as determined based on the data from the Statistics Canada Labour Force Survey for those months.
2. The parties agree that no part of this amending agreement will have an I 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 Quebec, in accordance with section 7.1 of the Labour Market Agreement in Principle (LMAP) of 1997. The parties acknowledge that the current method set out in section 7.1 of the LMAP 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 to the Secrétaire général associé du Secrétariat aux affaires intergouvernementales canadiennes du Quebec.
3. In all other respects, the Canada‑Quebec Labour Market Agreement in Principle of 1997 remains unchanged.
4. This amending agreement shall be read with the Canada‑Quebec Labour Market Agreement in Principle 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 at Québec this 30^th day of April 2009

Signed on behalf of Québec at Québec this 30^th day of April 2009