Here is a summary of the companies where jobs were created and others were lost in January 2020.
HIRINGS
Like several renowned companies, including Nike and Visa, the technology firm Q4 inc. chose to settle in Hamilton, Ontario. This fifth office will provide 240 new jobs by the end of 2020. This addition follows a record year: the company recorded revenues of more than $ 1.5 billion.
AddÉnergie, which manufactures charging stations for electric cars, plans to hire 160 new people by 2023. Half of these new positions will be created at the Shawinigan factory, and the other half at the head office in Montreal. The Quebec government will finance part of the bill, $ 976,245, for the acquisition of a new system.
Thanks to an investment of nearly $ 5 million and a significant expansion, the company Transformateurs Delta Star, specialized in the design and manufacture of dry transformers, will see its production increase by 50%. The team, which currently has 125 employees, will be increased with the arrival of 22 new employees in various positions of assemblers, winders and test technicians, among others.
The Ottawa Police Service (OPS) will hire over 100 officers over the next year, on an accelerated basis. This will ensure that the SPO receives new agents more quickly and thereby meets the city’s current needs. The decision, which will cost $ 14.7 million over three years, will still need to be approved by the Ottawa Police Services Board (CSPO).
45 million people use the Hooper app, which allows them to book airline tickets. This company, which was born in 2006 in Montreal, saw its revenues increase by 375% for the year 2019. Wind in the sails, the company plans to hire 400 to 600 people in 2020, and this, in one or other of their offices (Montreal, Toronto, Chicago, Boston, New York, Bogotá in Colombia, Sofia in Bulgaria). Note that 200 of the 420 current employees work at the Montreal head office.
DISMISSALS
Quebec toy maker Mega Brands (known for its famous Mega Bloks) will permanently shut down its Montreal factory. The latter totaled 60% of the company’s total workforce, acquired by Mattel in 2014. In order to consolidate its activities, production will be transferred to its other factories in China and Mexico. As many as 580 employees will be laid off by the start of 2021. Bisma Ansari, vice president of Mega Brands, says they will receive severance pay.
The Masonite factory in Saint-Romuald, manufacturer of machined doors, will close by next summer. No less than 60 employees have learned that they will lose their jobs. Vice President Robert Paxton said the company will try to find them a new job. Production, meanwhile, will move to the United States and Western Canada.
The Coalision company, owner of the sportswear brand Lolë, will close its warehouse in Longueuil and will transfer part of its activities to a subcontractor in Sherbrooke. After the wave of layoffs, which will last until April, 50 people will have lost their jobs.
To reduce costs, Loblaw will close its warehouse on Francis-Hughes Avenue in Laval by the end of 2021, in addition to that in the city of Ottawa. A total of 800 employees will lose their jobs. Having considered all possible avenues, the company says the latter was the most realistic.
Bad news does not await the other for the Nemaska Lithium mine, which took refuge in its creditors at the end of December 2019. The company announced at the end of January that it would lay off 29 additional employees. Nemaska Lithium will only have 30 people left at the end of the process, when it had 130 employees just a few months ago.