The Liberal Party of Quebec (PLQ) denounces the intention of the Coalition avenir Québec (CAQ) to maintain the current levels of immigration thresholds, despite the current labor shortage which deprives Quebeckers of a “good quality of service”.
The CAQ is “willfully blind”, deplores Liberal MP Saul Polo. In a review interview published on Wednesday, the Minister of Labour, Employment and Social Solidarity, Jean Boulet, told the To have to that the threshold set at 50,000 new arrivals per year would not change. “We still have work to integrate, to improve the problems of overqualification,” he said.
This decision goes against the needs of the province, according to Mr. Polo. “What Quebecers are experiencing are service disruptions, businesses and restaurants closing or not opening at the times they should be opening,” he said. The 224,000 vacant positions result in a “poorer quality of service” being offered to the population.
If it is brought to power, the PLQ undertakes to maintain the target of 70,000 immigrants in 2023, the number set by the CAQ in 2022 to make up for the delays caused by the pandemic. Consultations will then be held with organizations, regions and municipalities to determine the number of newcomers needed to meet labor needs, said Mr. Polo.
Minister Boulet argued that it was necessary to “take care” of immigrants, in reference to the Caquiste slogan of the 2018 election campaign aimed at reducing immigration targets. But according to Saul Polo, “today, we don’t even manage to take care of Quebecers properly,” he laments.
Mr. Polo believes that the CAQ government “did not take proper care” of immigrants during its mandate. “There were issues, such as difficulties in offering francization within a reasonable timeframe,” argues the MP.
With Francois Carabin