The reception of 100% of French-speaking economic immigrants mentioned Tuesday by Prime Minister François Legault must be subject to exceptions depending on the sector. At least that is what the Minister of the Economy, Pierre Fitzgibbon, thinks, who calls for “be careful”.
Even if “it would be the fun to have 100%”, “you have to be realistic, then you have to balance that with the needs”, underlined the elected representative of Terrebonne a few minutes before a meeting of the Council of Ministers, Wednesday.
The day before, Prime Minister Legault had detailed to journalists his desire to move towards “100% Francophone” economic immigration in 2026. “We will continue to take action to absolutely stop the decline of French,” he said. said.
However, less than 24 hours later, CAQ government ministers are putting their two cents in. On the very day of the Prime Minister’s inaugural address, Mr. Fitzgibbon said that we must “go [au cas] per case”. “In the battery sector, we have Koreans who are here with POSCO. Exceptions have to be made. I think you have to be careful with the general rules,” he said.
The Minister of Immigration, Christine Fréchette, for her part, has a favorable prejudice towards speakers of a Latin language, such as Spanish or Italian. “We are going to orient our recruitment measures according to knowledge of the French fact, according to the fact that the countries [d’origine] are Francotropic. For example, speakers of a Latin language,” Ms. Fréchette told the parliamentary press.
“Are French speakers going to meet our demand? That is what we will see in use, ”she added. Within its jurisdictions, therefore, Quebec will have more difficulty accepting a German or an Englishman than a Mexican or a Spaniard.
Ms. Fréchette refuses to believe that tending towards predominantly French-speaking immigration is a “mission impossible”. “There are more than 300 million French speakers around the world. So I can’t believe that, among that pool, there won’t be enough of them that will match the profile we need economically. »
Further details will follow.