Canada's Productivity Initiative: Montreal

A strong and adaptable labour force is critical to Canada’s long-term growth, productivity, and rising living standards. Ensuring that workers’ skills align with the evolving needs of the economy is central to meeting this challenge.

Join business and public policy leaders in Montreal on Monday, October 27, 2025, to engage with industry, government, and academia on the future of Canada’s labour markets and to explore practical solutions to strengthening skills, mobility, and opportunity.

Hosted at the McGill Faculty Club and open to the public, the session on skills and labour is part of Canada’s Productivity Initiative led by the University of Calgary’s School of Public Policy in collaboration with the Institute for Research on Public Policy.

The session includes panel discussions on skills’ development, labour mobility and immigration as well as a keynote address from MITACS on how talent and research drive innovation and productivity. 

Why attend?

The half-day session will explore the challenges and opportunities that range from labour mobility and technological change to the role of education and immigration in addressing skills gaps. 

Expert speakers from the private sector, academia and policymakers will address how to strengthen the country’s capacity to develop skills and how policy can better support education and training across the country. The discussions will also consider ways to ensure Canada’s workforce is adaptable, inclusive, and resilient in a changing environment, as well as the importance of promoting skilled trades as valued career paths.

"Economic growth is also essential for managing the costs of an aging population and rising health-care expenses, which already consume almost half of provincial revenues. With growing costs and fewer people to pay for them, immigration alone cannot solve the problem. Faster economic growth is the only sustainable path forward."

-- Excerpt from the What We Heard Report from Canada’s Productivity Summit.

"Productivity is shaped by multiple interrelated factors, he said, noting that technological advancements and improved business processes, often fostered by education, are central drivers of long-term productivity. U.S. universities, especially those in California, have been pivotal in innovation."

-- Excerpt from Ira Kalish, Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu, in the What We Heard Report from Canada’s Productivity Summit.