A Quebec government grant worth $9 million seeded to IBM Canada
for its Bromont plant is set to create 200 jobs.
The grant complements IBM's $85 million investment in a facility
that specializes in electronic component assembly and functional
testing.
The Quebec Ministry of Economic Development, Innovation and
Export Trade joined the Ministry of Employment and Social
Solidarity to announce the funding with $2 million earmarked for
human resources development.
The investment in training and skills development will help address a big
demographic challenge that Quebec is experiencing, according to Michelle
Courchesne, Minister of Employment and Social Solidarity.
"Our population is aging," said Courchesne. "That's the reason
why we believe the training will be a very strong answer to allow
enterprises like IBM to have a qualified workforce and remain
competitive on the international level.
Raymond Leduc, director for IBM Bromont said that one of the
government incentives is a training grant for new employees and
funding to replace those that will be moving to a new program.
"There's going to be a lot of skills development on site,
something we already do a lot of," said Leduc. "With the addition
of this new mission to the site about 500 people are going to
receive new skills development and training."
Most of IBM's workforce is from the immediate area, with the
bulk of their engineering staff either from the area or having
attended the University of Sherbooke, McGill University or the
University of Montreal, he said.
"We draw a lot of our skilled people from some of the major city
centresb &many Montrealers are moving out here as Bromont is actually
quite the place to live, it's a resort community and has become
very attractive to people in the IT industry."
Employee retention is a key factor for Courchesne, who said it's
important to retain skilled workers within the company.
"When an important company such as IBM invests in Quebec, we
become a partner," she said. "We're investing in our future, in our
young workers, and our economy in Quebec and it's a long term
investment."
To remain competitive, employees must continually update their
skill sets to keep pace with the changing technology, according to
Courchesne.
"Technology is part of the big battle of competition, you need
new technologies and equipment to make sure you're able to produce
more effectively at a better cost," she said. "And because we're a
small market in Quebec this helps especially with exportation --
with the globalization of business that's where you have to
go."
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