Quebec luring foreign and returning professors with five-year tax exemption

The Quebec government has extended its increasingly popular tax exemption legislation for foreign workers to the university sector, offering a five-year tax holiday to applicable professors in several key technology areas. The measure is being introduced to help ward off a pending shortfall in the number of professors in the post-secondary education system and is expected to cost the treasury $2-3 million annually.

Both foreign professors and expatriate Canadian professors will be eligible for the tax exemption providing they meet certain criteria, including possession of a PhD and a commitment to stay for a minimum of five years. Applicable disciplines include science, engineering, finance, health, information and communication technologies and the so-called new technologies.

"The exemption will have the same terms and conditions as it does for for industry. The program is not very costly but it makes a very big difference for those who benefit from it," says Camille Limoges, DM at the Ministry of Research, Science and Technology. "We don't know how long it will take to take off, but it took a few years for industry. People don't move instantaneously."

The tax exemption is also being positioned to take advantage of the Canada Research Chairs (CRC) program. Of the 2,000 chairs to be funded, 570 are to be located in Quebec, but the process of determining the disciplines those chairs will be allocated to is still ongoing. Those admitted to the program must obtain a certificate of eligibility from the Ministry of Education.

"In Quebec there will be a very intense renewal of professors. Our universities were mainly built in the 1960s and 1970s and a whole generation is retiring," says Limoges. "The Canada Research Chairs program will bring many professors to Quebec but the number of professors that need to be replaced is much higher."

The looming shortage of university professors and researchers has been the subject of increasing attention as academia, government and industry grapple with the consequences of the shortage of teaching and research talent at precisely the time when Canada moves towards a truly knowledge-based economy. Perhaps the most ambitious proposal to address the shortfall is eMPOWR Canada, a $500-million, industry-backed initiative seeking federal funding to generate research opportunities and highly qualified personnel in the areas of microelectronics, photonics, optoelectronics, wireless and radio engineering.

Quebec's tax exemption scheme is on a smaller scale, but Limoges says that shouldn't mislead people into underestimating its importance. "It's modest in terms of cost but in terms of impact it could be quite significant. For industry, the tax exemption has strategic importance and it will be the same for universities."

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