QUEBEC — Premier Jean Charest's Liberal government pushed through changes to labour laws Wednesday despite union protests in an attempt to make the province more competitive with the rest of Canada.

Several hundred union members demonstrated again Wednesday outside Charest's Montreal home, a target of their wrath. A new law making it easier for subcontracting has drawn thousands of union members into the streets in recent weeks.

As in most of Canada, Quebec's new law will allow non-union businesses to ditch collective agreements when they pick up work from unionized companies and public institutions. Companies were forced to inherit union contracts under the old law.

The new law will create hundreds of new small businesses and thousands of new jobs in Quebec, the Liberal government said.

"The law allows us to be on par with what is done in other provinces," Labour Minister Michel Depres argued in the legislature after a marathon session to pass a number of bills.

"It will allow Quebec businesses, in this era of globalization, to open markets, to be more competitive."

The unions and Opposition Parti Quebecois say the Liberals are attacking unions and fostering cheap labour to save government money and to improve profits for companies.

"This will contribute to a worrisome downward spiral in salaries in Quebec," said Maxime Arseneau, the PQ's labour critic.

"This will be a major upheaval for Quebec workers."

However, one labour expert said the playing field is now level.

"We have joined the rest of Canada when it comes to contracting out," said Noel Mallette, who co-wrote a report comparing laws across the country.

However, Mallette said studies reveal elements of truth in both sides of the argument concerning subcontracting.

He said subcontracting can lower wages among some public-sector workers whose services are privatized, but average income remains about the same because entrepreneurs running small companies can make more money.
Competition creates more overall opportunity, he said.

"It helps overall productivity, job security and improves working conditions because of the efficiency that is put in place," said Mallette, a professor at the University of Quebec at Montreal.

"In relative terms for small business, it can have as big an effect as free trade."

But the new law forbids employers from subcontracting their central business or to simply get rid of a union.

Mallette said the new law would allow a university or hospital to move unionized jobs in messenger or janitorial services to non-union private companies with more expertise in the area. But professors and nurses could not have their services subcontracted because they are central to the main business of their institutions, he said.

Bleary-eyed members of the legislature endured an all-night session ending early Wednesday to pass eight laws that included:

-A hike in the price of day care to $7, up from $5 per day.

-A ban on unionization in privately run day-care centres and care homes for the elderly.

-A plan to merge unions and administration in some health-care institutions.

-A process to allow Quebec's mega-cities to break apart.