(Quebec) The Liberal Party of Quebec (PLQ) is going to revise its target of 70,000 permanent immigrants per year that it had defended during the election campaign, but refuses to say whether it will be up or down.
Liberal interim leader Marc Tanguay hinted Tuesday in a scrum in parliament that this target no longer holds.
At 1er January, Quebec already welcomed 346,000 non-permanent residents, according to Statistics Canada data.
“It is clear that the numbers [sur le seuil d’immigration permanente] must be revised in light of the new reality, said Mr. Tanguay. Is it 70,000? Is it more? Is it less? »
It was first his colleague at his side, the deputy Monsef Derraji, who opened the door to have this discussion with the members of the party.
“Yes, with our members, we are going to have this discussion,” he suggested, assuring that during the election campaign, his party did not know that temporary immigration represented such a high pool, “not as much”.
Therefore, the debate on the annual threshold of permanent immigration is “no longer relevant”, in his eyes.
It is “a big CAQ lie” to fixate on a permanent immigration threshold of 50,000 – as the Legault government advocates – without taking into account temporary immigration which is exploding well beyond the capacity of welcome from Quebec,” argued Mr. Derraji.