THE HISTORY OF THE CHEMICAL INDUSTRY IN QUEBEC

The history of the chemical industry in Québec began in 1895, when a phosphate plant was set up in Buckingham. A few years later, the Shawinigan region became the heart of the province’s electrochemical industry. The arrival of Canadian Titanium Pigments (Kronos) and Erco in the early 1950s made Varennes an important production centre in the Québec chemical industry. Development continued throughout the 1960s with the implementation of Petromont, a subsidiary of the Société Générale de Financement (the General Financing Society) and Union Carbide.

The growing Québec chemical industry benefited from major assets such as an abundant source of hydroelectricity at competitive prices, access to a large source of raw materials generated by the mining industry and a huge pulp and paper market. All of these factors made Montreal the refining capital of Canada up until the 1980s.

Several formulation companies opened as the result of the multinationals, which built the Québec chemical industry, providing the local market with various products including paint, maintenance and cleaning products, ink and lubricants. Subsequently, other businesses were set up to manufacture refined chemical products for the food, pharmaceutical and electronics industries.

THE CHEMICAL SECTOR IN QUEBEC
The chemical industry is a key part of the Québec economy, serving the majority of other industrial sectors including transport, construction, pulp and paper and agriculture.

In addition, several sub-sectors of the chemical industry supply the consumer market with products as diverse as adhesives, food products, textiles, paint, maintenance and cleaning products, electronics and cosmetics. Concentrated in the Montreal area, the chemical industry provides over 15,000 jobs in Québec at more than 350 facilities (not including the pharmaceutical sector), nearly 80% of which are small and medium-sized companies with 50 employees or less. The remaining companies, which account for 80% of jobs, are subsidiaries of multinationals including (in the petrochemical sector) Petromont, Nova Chemicals, Interquisa Canada, PTT Poly Canada and Petro-Canada.

The main players in the inorganic chemical sector produce chemicals for pulp and paper (Eka Chimie, Erco Mondial and Nexen Chimie), industrial gas (Air Liquide, Praxair et BOC), pigments (Kronos), sulphur products (Noranda) and chlorine (PPG et PCI Canada).

The third sector, chemical formulation, represents the largest number of companies and jobs in the chemical industry and includes the SICO Group, Laurentide et Protech Chimie (paint and wall coverings), Mapéi Canada, Sika and Fuller (adhesives and protective coverings), the Avmor Group, Lavo, Sanimarc, Choisy and Magnus Chemical Products (maintenance products), Lise Watier, Avon and L'Oréal (cosmetics), etc.

PETROCHEMICALS AND REFINING
The oil crisis of the 1970s, the world economic crisis and the Canadian National Energy Program, which promoted oil drilling in Alberta, are all factors that had a significant impact on the Québec petrochemical industry. The refining capital of Canada until the 1980s, Québec lost six refineries in Montreal between 1982 and 1986. Deprived of easy access to raw materials, many petrochemical operations closed their doors, including DuPont, BASF, Gulf, Shawinigan Chemical and three facilities belonging to Shell Chemicals.

Today, petrochemical refining in Québec comprises three refineries and about twenty petrochemical companies, which are essentially subsidiaries of Canadian, American and European multinationals. The majority of these companies are located in the Montreal region. Even though the size of the petrochemical refining industry may seem relatively modest compared to the international competition, it employs nearly 3,000 workers, representing a total of 20% of jobs in the chemical industry in Québec.

PROSPECTS IN CHEMICAL SECTOR
Despite significant increases in productivity, the Québec chemical industry will undoubtedly continue to recruit new workers.

The sub-sectors (toiletries, paint and wall coverings, synthetic resins, soaps and cleaners) are the main employers of the chemical industry, making up nearly 40% of companies operating in this sector.

Given that the specialized petrochemical workforce is getting older, major recruitment is expected in the coming years, targeting college graduates with a diploma in any of the three specialized fields of chemistry. Half of the positions offered will be in technical procedures.

Despite international competition, Québec has managed to succeed in the chemical industry thanks to its strategic geographic location, well-developed transportation and distribution network, and the presence of a highly qualified workforce. However, there still remains a lack of qualified labour, a situation that could get worse in the years to come, according to the Comité sectoriel de main-d'œuvre de la chimie, de la pétrochimie et du raffinage du Québec (sector committee on the labour force in the Québec chemical, petrochemical and refining industries), resulting in very favourable employment opportunities for specialists in this sector.

THE PURIFICATION OF WATER IN QUEBEC
In 1964, la Cité de jeunes de Vaudreuil signed an agreement with the ministère de l’Éducation to offer training in the treatment of drinking water and waste water. In 1978, the government of Québec passed the Environment Bill and invested six billion dollars in water treatment, creating many job openings for young graduates with diplomas in water treatment. CEGEP Saint-Laurent is the only institution in Québec that has offered training at the college level in this field since 1969. Following the Walkerton tragedy, the government of Québec put into effect stricter controls and regulations pertaining to the treatment of drinking water in 2001.

Furthermore, since December 1, 2005, anyone wishing to work in the drinking water sector must have a diploma, a certificate or an attestation issued by the ministère de l’Éducation or Emploi-Québec. The reinforcement of the new ruling and the need for quality control of the water supply have had a direct impact on the increased recruitment of water treatment specialists in Québec. Graduates from CEGEP St-Laurent with a diploma in water treatment enjoy a 100% job placement rate. Water treatment specialists are employed in both private and publicly managed treatment facilities, at Environment Canada, the Québec ministère de l’Environnement, at engineering-consulting firms and at equipment distributors.

CHEMICAL TECHNOLOGISTS AND TECHNICIANS