Kick-off meeting for the Skilled Labor working group

The kick-off meeting for the Skilled Labor working group was held on September 24, 2019, at Espace CDPQ in Montreal. More than 30 Propulsion Québec actors, members and partners came together to reflect on current and future workforce and training needs in the electric and smart transportation (EST) industry.

The preliminary objectives were presented by the Propulsion Québec team, along with the working groups co-presidents, Renée Michaud, Development and R&D Partnership Advisor at Polytechnique Montréal, and Benoit Lacroix, Co-Founder and Vice President of Sales & Marketing at Effenco. We also surveyed participants about challenges in the ecosystem, their primary concerns and the orientations to adopt as we move forward with our work.

Participants from the industry as well as institutions and associations involved in labor issues were able to discuss current and projected challenges in our sector to lay the groundwork for what needs to be done in the coming years.

The mobilization that got underway and the solutions put forward at the event have given Propulsion Québec at lot of ideas to work with. The next step will be proposing the working group’s final mandate, backed by an action plan for the year 2020.

There was also a lot of talk about the recently launched Propulsion Québec study that will assess various deployment strategies in EST for the next 30 years and provide an overview of labor and training in the sector.

Lastly, the Skilled Labor Forum, taking place on December 5, 2019, was announced. This will be an opportunity for the working group to meet again, along with all other members, to discuss skilled labor and training issues. The official invitation for this important event will be sent out shortly.

If you’re a Propulsion Québec member and you’d like to be a part of this working group, please contact

Cover image by : Emilie Pelletier