Canada's Productivity Initiative: Montreal
Skills, Education and Immigration
McGill Faculty Club | October 27, 2025
Montreal
About the Session
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.
Business and public policy leaders joined 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 for strengthening skills, mobility, and opportunity.
Hosted at the McGill Faculty Club and open to the public, the session on skills and labour was 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 featured 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.
Insights from the Session
The half-day session explored the challenges and opportunities that ranged 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 government addressed how to strengthen the country’s capacity to develop skills and how policy could better support education and training across the country. The discussions also considered ways to ensure Canada’s workforce was adaptable, inclusive, and resilient in a changing environment, as well as the importance of promoting skilled trades as valued career paths.
McGill Faculty Club
3450 McTavish St, Montreal, Quebec H3A 1X9
"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.
Canada’s Productivity Initiative: Montreal is presented by the School of Public Policy in partnership with the Institute for Research on Public Policy.
Featured Speakers
Trevor Tombe
Professor, University of Calgary’s Department of Economics and Director of Fiscal and Economic Policy, School of Public Policy
Janet Lane
Consultant and Senior Research Fellow, LearningCITY and Former Director of Skills, Innovation and Productivity, Canada West Foundation
Robert Falconer
Research Fellow at the University of Calgary School of Public Policy, Social Policy and Health Research Area
Mireille Paquet
Associate Professor, Political Science, Concordia University
Mikal Skuterud
Professor, Labour economics; Microeconometrics, University of Waterloo
Rupa Banerjee
Canada Research Chair & Professor, HR Management & Organizational Behaviour
Tricia Williams
Director, Research, Evaluation and Knowledge Mobilization, Future Skills Centre
Charles Breton
Executive Director of the Centre of Excellence on the Canadian Federation, Institute for Research on Public Policy
Derek Newton
Senior Vice-President Business Development and Strategic Partnerships, Mitacs
Reuben Ford
Research Director, Social Research and Demonstration Corporation (SRDC)
Ricardo Chejfec
Research Director, Institute for Research on Public Policy
Jennifer Welsh
Canada 150 Research Chair in Global Governance and Security, McGill University and Director, Max Bell School of Public Policy
Rachel Samson
Vice President of Research at the Institute for Research on Public Policy (IRPP)
More speakers coming soon...
More speakers coming soon...
Montreal Session
Skills, Education and Immigration
October 27, 2025
13:00 - 17:00 ET (Eastern Time)
Dr. Trevor Tombe, Professor at the University of Calgary’s Department of Economics & Director of Fiscal and Economic Policy at the School of Public Policy
Addressing productivity challenges in Canada through skills, labour markets, immigration, and innovation.
How education and training systems can better align with labour market needs; Strengthening partnerships between employers, educators, and policymakers; Emerging skills gaps and strategies to close them.
Panelists:
- Ricardo Chejfec, Research Director, Institute for Research on Public Policy
Panelists:
- Janet Lane, Consultant and Senior Research Fellow, LearningCITY and Former Director of Skills, Innovation and Productivity, Canada West Foundation
- Tricia Williams, Director of Research, Evaluation & Knowledge Mobilization, Future Skills Centre
- Reuben Ford, Research Director, Social Research and Demonstration Corporation
Dr. Derek Newton, Senior Vice-President Business Development and Strategic Partnerships, Mitacs
“Driving Innovation and Productivity Through Research and Talent”
Immigration policy and workforce development; Labour market dynamics and productivity; Workplace integration; TFW program.
Moderator:
- Charles Breton, Executive Director of the Centre of Excellence on the Canadian Federation, Institute for Research on Public Policy
Panelists:
- Mireille Paquet, Professor, Political Science, Concordia University, Research Chair in Politics of Immigration
- Robert Falconer, SSHRC Doctoral Fellow at the London School of Economics, and Researcher at University of Calgary School of Public Policy
- Mikal Skuterud, Professor of Economics, University of Waterloo
- Rupa Banerjee, Canada Research Chair in Economic inclusion, Employment and Entrepreneurship of Canada’s Immigrants and Professor of Human Resource Management and Organizational Behaviour, Toronto Metropolitan University
- Rachel Samson, Vice-President President, Research, Institute for Research on Public Policy
- Jennifer Welsh, Director, Max Bell School of Public Policy and Canada 150 Research Chair in Global Governance and Security, McGill University
"Technological advancements and improved business processes, often fostered by education, are central drivers of long-term productivity."
-- Excerpt from Ira Kalish, Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu, in the What We Heard Report from Canada’s Productivity Summit.
Contact Us
If you have any further questions, please contact our team and one of our members will get back to you as soon as possible.
General Event Info
productivity@ucalgary.ca
Media Inquiries
Gord Der Stepanian
gord.derstepanian@ucalgary.ca