Training grants in Quebec — see which you qualify for

Quebec runs its own training system

The first thing every Quebec employer should know is what doesn't apply here: the Canada Job Grant. Every other province and territory delivers federal Canada Job Grant funding, but Quebec opted out. Under the Canada-Québec labour-market agreements, the province receives the funding and designs its own programs instead — so if you have read a national article telling you to apply for the Canada Job Grant, that route simply does not exist for a Quebec business. Searching for it wastes time you could spend on the programs that do apply.

Those programs run through a distinct set of Quebec institutions. Services Québec (which absorbed Emploi-Québec's public-employment services) is the front door for employers, with regional offices from Montréal and Québec City to Gatineau, Sherbrooke and the regions. The Commission des partenaires du marché du travail (CPMT) — a tripartite body of employers, unions and government — sets workforce-development priorities and administers the training fund. And the Ministère de l'Emploi et de la Solidarité sociale (MESS) oversees the whole labour-market system. Skills and innovation policy is coordinated with the Ministère de l'Économie, de l'Innovation et de l'Énergie (MEIE).

The top Quebec training programs in 2026

These are the programs a Quebec employer is most likely to use to fund training and skills development, grouped by what they actually give you. Because Quebec sets its own terms and adjusts them year to year, treat the amounts below as indicative and confirm current details with the delivering body before you build a plan around them.

Productivité-Compétences: the flagship 2026 program

If there is one new program to know, it is Productivité-Compétences — a $55M Quebec envelope, announced in early 2026, built to raise SME productivity by funding workforce training. It reimburses eligible training expenses across five themes: AI and innovation, management practices, green (ecological) transition, digital transformation, and literacy and numeracy. It is administered by the CPMT and the MESS.

The critical mechanic — and the one that trips up most applicants — is that you cannot apply directly. Businesses participate through an eligible collective promoter (promoteur collectif): a sectoral employer association, a regional body, or similar organization that submits a project call (appel de projets) to the CPMT via the FDRCMO mechanism. Your SME joins the promoter's cohort rather than filing its own application. Training expenses generally must be incurred after the promoter's project is approved.

Services Québec & the Mesure de formation de la main-d'œuvre

For an employer that simply wants to train its own people — no cohort, no promoter — the direct route is Services Québec's Mesure de formation de la main-d'œuvre (MFOR). It is the standing provincial measure that supports training to develop or adapt the skills of the workforce, and it can apply both to individuals and, through the employer stream, to businesses training their staff. It can cover a share of eligible training costs, and in some cases a portion of wages during training — but the exact support is arranged case by case, so confirm current details rather than assuming a fixed percentage.

Alongside the MFOR, Concertation pour l'emploi is the Services Québec measure that gives employers tailored help — a business advisor works with you on HR, skills planning and structuring a training project, which often leads into the funding measures. Both are reached the same way: through your local Services Québec office, in Montréal, Québec City, Gatineau or your region — not a single central application form.

The 1% training law and the FDRCMO

Quebec is the rare jurisdiction that legally requires larger employers to invest in training. Under the province's law on workforce skills development — commonly called the "1% law" (loi du 1 %) — an employer whose total annual payroll exceeds a set threshold must devote at least 1% of that payroll to eligible training, or pay the shortfall into the Fonds de développement et de reconnaissance des compétences de la main-d'œuvre (FDRCMO). Confirm the current payroll threshold and eligible-expense rules with Revenu Québec and the CPMT — they are periodically adjusted.

The FDRCMO is more than a penalty pot. Managed with the CPMT, it finances in-firm training and skills-recognition projects — and it is the same mechanism through which collective promoters channel Productivité-Compétences money. So the 1% law and Productivité-Compétences are two ends of one system: the law feeds and shapes the fund; the fund pays for the training. For a mid-sized Quebec employer, the smart posture is to treat your 1% obligation not as a tax but as a budget you already have to spend on training — and to make sure it buys skills you actually need.

Three routes to training funding

Quebec training funding isn't one program — it's three doors, and picking the right one up front is what separates a funded plan from a stalled one. Match your situation to the route, not the reverse.

What Quebec training funding covers

A fifth Productivité-Compétences theme — literacy and numeracy (littératie) — rounds out the list, aimed at the foundational skills that make every other kind of training stick.

Who qualifies

Eligibility varies by route, but Quebec workforce-training funding shares a common core. You are generally in scope if:

• Your business is registered and operating in Quebec (an NEQ from the Registraire des entreprises).
• The training develops or adapts workforce skills — new tools, management, digital or green transition, or foundational literacy — rather than routine onboarding.
• You can show a clear training plan: who is being trained, what content, which provider, and the skills gap it closes.
• You put the agreement or cohort in place before the training starts — retroactive costs are usually ineligible.

Each route then adds its own gate. Productivité-Compétences requires participation through an approved collective promoter — SMEs cannot apply directly, and government bodies, educational institutions and publicly-funded health and social-service organizations are excluded as SME participants. The MFOR is assessed case by case against regional criteria and budget. The 1% law / FDRCMO applies specifically to employers above the payroll threshold. None of these require you to be doing R&D — training alone is the point.

How to apply

There is no single training-grant portal in Quebec — the path depends on which route fits. For most employers:

1. Define the training need first. Name the skills gap and who it affects. Quebec's programs are organized around training themes, so a clear need points you to the right route.
2. Confirm you're Quebec-registered. Get or confirm your NEQ from the Registraire des entreprises — provincial training support is for Quebec employers.
3. Training your own staff? Call Services Québec. Contact your local office for the Mesure de formation de la main-d'œuvre — a business advisor sets up the agreement before training starts.
4. A sector-wide project? Find a collective promoter. For Productivité-Compétences you can't apply directly — join an approved promoteur collectif running a project call via the CPMT / FDRCMO.
5. Assemble the plan and quotes. A training plan, provider quotes, participant list and timeline — most files expect all of these before approval.
6. Track your 1% obligation. If your payroll is above the threshold, keep records so the eligible training counts toward your 1% requirement — or is claimed against the FDRCMO.

What's changed in 2026

Productivité-Compétences arrived. The province added a $55M workforce-training envelope, announced in early 2026, as the successor to earlier CPMT training investments. It ties funding to five priority themes — AI, management, green transition, digital transformation, and literacy — and channels it through collective promoters rather than direct SME applications.

The productivity framing sharpened. Quebec now explicitly frames training funding as a productivity lever for SMEs, coordinated between the CPMT/MESS labour-market system and the MEIE's economic strategy — a more integrated "train to grow" posture than in prior years.

The Canada Job Grant gap persists — and matters more now. As national coverage of employer training funding grows, so does the confusion for Quebec businesses. Quebec still does not participate in the Canada Job Grant; the MFOR and Productivité-Compétences remain the provincial answer, and knowing that saves real time.

The 1% law still anchors the system. The obligation for larger employers to invest 1% of payroll in training — feeding the FDRCMO that now also carries Productivité-Compétences money — remains the structural backbone. Confirm the current payroll threshold, which is periodically adjusted.

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