History

The Commission des partenaires du marché du travail (CPMT) was established in June 1997 under the Act respecting the Ministère de l'Emploi et de la Solidarité sociale and the Commission des partenaires du marché du travail, in the wake of the federal government’s granting of full responsibility for active employment measures to the Québec government.

From 1992 to 1997, employability development and human resource training measures were the shared responsability of the federal and Québec governments, the City of Montréal, and the Société québécoise de développement de la main-d’œuvre (SQDM), whose board of directors included business and union leaders.

Québec has a long history of partnership in workforce and employment issues, from its apprenticeship commissions in 1945 and vocational training commissions in 1969 to the Forum pour l’emploi (1989), the Conférence permanente de la main-d’œuvre (1990) and the Société québécoise de développement de la main-d’œuvre (1992). Partnership has enabled and continues to enable Québec to obtain more accurate labour market information, to develop better measures adapted to workforce and business needs, and to facilitate coordination between public policy and private sector initiatives.

Since its creation, the CPMT has tackled a number of major responsibilities formerly assigned to the SQDM, including administering the Act to foster the development of manpower training and the SQDM’s sector-based action policy. It has helped implement the Canada-Québec Labour Market Agreement and has contributed to managing Emploi-Québec, the public employment service created in 1998.

From the very start, the CPMT has made enhancing workers’ skills its main focus. In 2001, it adopted a general framework for developing and recognizing skills and joined with the Québec government to prepare and deploy the government’s policy on adult education and lifelong learning.

In 2004, the CPMT helped define the central objective of the government’s employment plan, namely raising Quebecers’ standard of living by improving employment and productivity rates, while favouring investments in skills development. These cornerstones for a higher standard of living have since become the main orientations of Emploi-Québec’s annual action plan.

In 2007, further to a recommendation by the Minister of Employment and Social Solidarity and the CPMT, the National Assembly adopted the Act to amend the Act to foster the development of manpower training and other legislative provisions now called the Act to promote workforce skills development and recognition. The new law enhances the focus on improving workers’ skills and qualification through investments in training, joint efforts by various partners (employers, trade unions, community partners, educational institutions), the development of various training approaches and on-the-job recognition of workers’ skills. In the same spirit, the Act respecting the Ministère de l'Emploi et de la Solidarité sociale and the Commission des partenaires du marché du travail was amended in order to assign the CPMT new responsibilities with respect to implementing labour development programs and services.

Related Document (French only)

• Loi favorisant le développement de la formation de la main-d'œuvre. La formation professionnelle continue au Québec. Historique, enjeux, réglementation (, 519 KB)