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By Daniel Cloutier, Unifor Quebec Director
In the run-up to an election campaign, Quebec finds itself embroiled in an unprecedented trade war. Since January 2025, our plants have been dealing with a series of tariff attacks from Washington, with duties on softwood lumber soaring to 144% in 2025 alone and sectoral tariffs of up to 50% on aluminum, copper and a constantly growing list of other products.
Today, a new and wide-ranging threat looms, targeting over 554 Canadian products, with many of our high value-added goods in the crosshairs. If it comes to pass, up to 9% of our exports stand to be affected, representing a $7 billion hit.
Let’s be clear. Quebec is, by far, the most exposed province. Behind the reassuring Canadian averages lies a far more worrying reality. Should this round of tariffs be implemented, the burden on our manufacturing industries would be nearly twice as high as the Canadian average, and eight times that of Alberta.
And behind this madness lies a perverse effect. When the United States closes its doors, subsidized goods from Asia flow elsewhere and Canada becomes a dumping ground. We have seen this recently with the spate of closures in the furniture sector. Behind this dumping lies a patient strategy aimed at eliminating competition in order to drive up prices. Here at home, this has translated into the disappearance of jobs.
Since January 2026, nearly 23,000 manufacturing jobs have vanished in Quebec, and this may only be a foretaste of what lies ahead. Let’s take a step back. In 2000, Quebec had 650,000 manufacturing jobs for a population of 7.3 million. Today, our population stands at over 9 million, yet barely 480,000 of those jobs remain, representing a 35% decline in a quarter of a century.
Is this inevitable? No. Automation accounts for part of this decline, but there is no reason why we should let the resources freed up by automation slip away: we can choose to reinvest them in advanced manufacturing. For every manufacturing job supports multiple additional jobs, with the highest ratio of any sector. And that’s without even considering advanced manufacturing’s role as a driving force for our exports, which capture wealth from elsewhere to bring it back here, where it funds our public services.
It is this balance between natural resources, manufacturing expertise, services and an accessible educational ecosystem that has underpinned Quebec’s economic resilience. To lose it would be a historic mistake.
Finally, manufacturing is also the historic birthplace of the labour movement – the tide that lifts all boats. It was largely on the shop floors of factories that the workers’ struggle for dignity and better conditions took root. It was also there that solidarity among workers found expression and that something akin to a middle class was born.
The only upside to the headwinds we are currently facing is that they have forced us to reflect. For too long, we have been flying blind, at the mercy of electoral cycles and passing fads. This reactive approach has led us into a dead end and undermined Quebecers’ confidence in our own abilities. We deserve better.
Industrial policy should not be a blank cheque for multinationals. It is a tool to regain control of our growth, protect our assets in times of turmoil and prepare for better days ahead. It is also a profoundly democratic undertaking that requires genuine dialogue with all partners, starting with workers.
That is why we are asking the next government to make two commitments. In the short term, to protect our manufacturing ecosystem from American attacks. And, in the medium term, to develop our manufacturing sector by adopting an intelligent and assertive industrial policy, developed in collaboration with all social partners.
The future is not a foregone conclusion. It’s a choice. Let’s make that choice together, and let’s do it today.
