Canada: labor market regulation and labor relations in the construction industry: the special case of Quebec within the Canadian context

A common thread running through the analysis of economic issues and labor relations for more than 10 years in all industrialized countries has undoubtedly been the issue of competitiveness in a global economy vis-à-vis the role of the State. This issue has fueled challenges to the interventionist state, to highly regulated and centralized systems, to obstacles to flexibility, and so on. The question that arises is whether a strongly national – even regional – construction industry can avoid these strong forces. In fact, the Canadian experience demonstrates that the systems for regulating the construction industry in several Canadian provinces have begun to undergo a process of adjustment – even deregulation – to new market conditions. However, the case of Quebec is an interesting exception to this trend, particularly because it has followed a highly regulated model despite the difficulties experienced by the industry, which was hard hit by the two deep recessions of 1982-3 and 1991-2.