If the immigration thresholds are not lowered, the housing crisis could worsen, warns the leader of the Parti Québécois, Paul St-Pierre Plamondon, during a visit to members of the Union des municipalités du Quebec (UMQ), Friday.
The sovereignist formation promises to lower the immigration thresholds to 35,000 people per year. This is less than the government thresholds of 50,000 and even less than the Liberal target of 70,000 and the Québec solidaire range of between 60,000 and 80,000.
“I spoke to several mayors, several people in all regions of Quebec. There is no housing and to say that by magic, we will greatly increase our immigration thresholds and that by magic housing will begin to exist, that is really false. »
The n-word
Mr. St-Pierre Plamondon denied having wanted to force the parliamentary leader of Québec solidaire, Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois, to pronounce the “n” word when he asked him to say the title of a book by Pierre Vallières during the TVA debate broadcast the day before.
In a press scrum, Mr. Nadeau-Dubois asked why the PQ leader made it a “priority” to get him to say the word.
The leader of the Parti Québécois replies that he only answered a question from host Pierre Bruneau. “I didn’t insist. I spoke. I said what I had to say. He chooses his answers. This is completely normal in a debate. »
Public transport
Mr. St-Pierre Plamondon disagrees with the idea that immigration would solve the labor shortage. “It can even exacerbate the housing crisis because it takes a lot of labor to build new housing. »
In his speech, Mr. St-Pierre Plamondon promised to provide financial support “to the 30 largest cities” in Quebec to improve their public transit offer, during a meeting with members of the Union des municipalities of Quebec (UMQ), Friday.
He says that this promise affects cities with more than 40,000 inhabitants and would represent additional investments of $30 billion over 10 years in the Quebec Infrastructure Plan (PQI).
Mr. St-Pierre Plamondon specified that the cities will decide themselves which priority projects to deploy on their territory, without interference. “Each city will be able to innovate and submit its public transport project adapted to its reality and its objectives. »
The formation has set itself the objective of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 45% compared to 1990 by 2030.
During his presentation, the leader of the Parti Québécois opened the door to the request of the UMQ, which is asking for 2 billion to respond to the climate emergency. In a scrum, he said the party’s budget framework had the financial leeway to meet that demand. “These are legitimate, essential demands with regard to climate change, which are already having consequences. »