A review of the companies that have hired and laid off employees in June 2016.
HIRINGS
1. Major investment from General Motors in Canada: the automaker has confirmed the creation of 1,000 new jobs in the country, including 300 at its Oshawa research center.
2. As a direct result of the investment from GM, automotive plastic parts supplier Lakeside Plastics will hire 100 new workers to bid on contracts and meet growing demands in the industry.
3. Proud Quebec pork producer Olymel will invest $25M to increase production at its plant in St-Esprit-de-Montcalm, resulting in the creation of 200 new jobs.
4. McCain Foods will expand its plant in Florenceville-Bristol, New Brunswick, to meet the growing demand of fried potato slices. The company expects to create between 40 and 50 new jobs.
5. Finally some good news for Canards du Lac-Brome, which suffered from two fires this year. With the help of an economic diversification fund, the company's Eastern Townships plant will modernize its equipment facility and hire hundreds of new workers to increase production.
LAYOFFS
1. The Davie facility in Lévis, which has completed two major projects and now awaits new contracts, carried out a ‘temporary’ layoff of 72 employees.
2. Tough competition between lobster processors in New Brunswick and Quebec. Caraquet Fisheries is forced to close its doors because New Brunswick fishermen prefer the Gaspésie processing plants. Consequence: 50 workers will lose their jobs.
3. Unreassuring for railway safety, Canadian Pacific will reduce its maintenance and repair team by 500 workers (260 to layoffs and 240 to attrition).
4. Last month, BMO announced a massive layoff of 1,847 employees due to the migration of customers to online services. Without revealing their numbers, Scotiabank and Desjardins have already announced their intention to move in that direction.
5. It's not just Quebec schools which are suffering from austerity measures. The Prairie Spirit School Division, in Saskatoon, has cut 74 positions in education in the wake of the recent provincial budget cuts.