About Boulet and Legault | “Irresponsible”, “harmful” and “dangerous”

The political opponents of François Legault strongly denounce the new declarations of the chief caquiste and his outgoing minister Jean Boulet, on immigration. These remarks are “irresponsible”, “damaging” and “dangerous” for society, they accused.

Fanny Levesque
The Press

Charles Lecavalier
The Press

Hugo Pilon Larose
The Press

Mylene Crete
The Press

Dominique Anglade was to hold a press conference in Quebec City on Wednesday morning on the labor shortage, but the comments made by both François Legault and Jean Boulet upset the plans of the visibly shaken Liberal leader.

“At some point, it makes, the excuses. It is also to think about the remarks that you must make in the context of an election campaign,” thundered the leader of the Liberal Party of Quebec. “When we have used all these words, it is no longer errors, it is a deliberate choice that [François Legault] do. He deliberately chooses closure, the choice of division, because it serves him politically.

The leader of the Coalition avec Québec (CAQ) argued Wednesday that it “would be a bit suicidal” to welcome more than 50,000 immigrants a year during a speech before the Chamber of Commerce of Metropolitan Montreal. These statements come as the comments of the outgoing Minister of Immigration made during a debate in Trois-Rivières resurface.

Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois was speechless when he learned of the words of the chief caquiste. “I don’t even know where to start… What is suicide? Suicide is killing yourself. Welcoming people to Quebec, does that lead us to the death of the Quebec nation? Is that what he says, the outgoing Prime Minister of Quebec? […] It’s not just exaggerated, made there, it’s insignificant, ”he said.

“At the CAQ, the example comes from above. When the prime minister spends an election campaign breaking sugar on the backs of immigrants, is it any wonder that one of his ministers goes down the path opened by the prime minister? “, added the parliamentary leader of Quebec solidaire.

Dominique Anglade accuses his CAQ opponent of dividing Quebecers on the issue of immigration. The use of the word “suicidal” knocks her down.

“After the two days we just spent talking about Amélie Champagne, I find the word particularly badly chosen with a flagrant lack of empathy,” she said. She was referring to the tragic death of the young woman, who took her own life after being escaped by the health system, according to her father.

Words “that hurt”

Dominique Anglade, who is herself the daughter of immigrants, deplores that this kind of comment “hurts” those who have chosen Quebec as a land of welcome.

“They hurt because we are telling people, children of immigrants, immigrants of several generations… To all these people, we are telling them that in the end, the person that you are, she does fit not in Quebec. That’s what we’re sending as a message, that’s what hurts, ”she explained to reporters.

Mr. Nadeau-Dubois agrees: “Behind the debates on the thresholds [d’immigration], there are people in the flesh. There are families. There are women, men and children who have chosen Quebec, who sometimes have trouble arriving, who live with insecurity. When politicians voluntarily or involuntarily fuel prejudice against these people, it has consequences in the life of this world, ”he said.

For political reasons

PQ leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon has charged François Legault and his team, whom he accuses of making irresponsible and socially damaging statements for political reasons. “I find it hard to believe that every time it’s been an accident. […] It’s a way of trying to make people forget the poverty of their program, the poverty of their results, and of what they have to offer in terms of the French language,” he denounced.

“It makes several irresponsible statements from the CAQ on this subject. We will remember the link between violence and immigration. […] On the merits, on the future of the French language, on the capacity for integration, it is very, very weak, the proposal of the CAQ. And it’s as if the CAQ is trying to make people forget the weakness of what they have to say on this subject, with irresponsible statements that will make the headlines, but not for good reasons,” said Mr. St- Pierre Plamondon during a press conference in the east end of Montreal.

He asserts that his political party is capable of proposing a lowering of the immigration thresholds, but of talking about it responsibly. “The CAQ does neither. Not able to talk about immigration responsibly, and not able to propose a model that gives French a future. People will choose next October 3,” he thundered.

“Funny signals”, says Duhaime

“This is not the first time that the CAQ has sent strange signals,” reacted the leader of the Conservative Party of Quebec, Éric Duhaime. He believes that Mr. Boulet has “conveyed prejudices” and falsehoods about immigrants. “It certainly disqualifies him to be immigration minister,” he added.

As for the words of his CAQ opponent François Legault, the Conservative leader did not fail to recall that Quebec welcomed 70,000 immigrants under the leadership of the CAQ. “Does the CAQ have “suicidal” immigration policies? I do not think so. I’m not accusing him of that, but the CAQ seems to be accusing itself. »

In its electoral platform, the PCQ does not set immigration targets, but Éric Duhaime says he is comfortable with that of 50,000 advocated by the CAQ. “The war of numbers, it is a little ridiculous, he explained. If there are 50,000 immigrants who don’t work, who don’t speak French, obviously that’s a problem. If there are 60,000 who speak French and who integrate, what is the problem? »

He also makes a distinction between regular and irregular immigration, which he describes rather as “illegal”. The day before, he had not ruled out the construction of a wall on the border between Canada and the United States to prevent asylum seekers from entering Canada via Roxham Road.