QUEBEC | The Liberal leader reacted strongly on Wednesday to the comments of Jean Boulet and François Legault on immigration.
• Read also: Jean Boulet “disqualified” from the post of Minister of Immigration, says Legault
• Read also: English: “Suicidal” to welcome more than 50,000 immigrants per year for the Quebec nation, according to Legault
A statement from the outgoing Minister of Immigration dating from last week set things on fire.
Jean Boulet said that 80% of immigrants “do not work, do not speak French, or do not adhere to the values of Quebec society”, during a debate in Mauricie on September 21. He defended himself by saying “to have expressed his thoughts badly”.
As that statement surfaced Wednesday morning, Premier Francois Legault said raising the thresholds beyond 50,000 newcomers a year would be “suicidal.”
Dominique Anglade’s press briefing, which was to address the issue of the labor shortage, was almost entirely devoted to his reactions to the comments of the CAQ team.
The Liberal leader notably denounced the use of the word “suicidal” by the Prime Minister. “After the two days that we have just spent talking about Amélie Champagne, I find the word particularly badly chosen and with a flagrant lack of empathy”, she launched in reference to the suicide of a young girl affected. headline-grabbing Lyme disease.
Bring together
Passing through the Quebec region, Ms. Anglade took the example of the Liberal candidates from the diversity, present behind her, to call on Quebecers to “get together”. For several weeks, she has accused François Legault of seeking to divide citizens, particularly around immigration.
As for the excuses of Jean Boulet, she does not believe it. “He made those comments on September 21 and today he wakes up to apologize…it’s not going through. I mean, it’s ridiculous and that’s enough, there, the excuses, ”she said.
They deplore both the statements of MM. Legault and Boulet. “These are words that are dangerous because they fuel fear of the other, they divide Quebecers, they are false, in addition,” she said.
“They hurt, because we are telling people, children of immigrants, immigrants, people of several generations, people who are maybe six generations and who have decided to marry someone who also comes from elsewhere… To all these people, basically we come to tell them: well, finally, the person you are with, the person you are, well, maybe she doesn’t really fit in Quebec,” she added.
Faced with the accumulation of negative comments from the CAQ leader on immigration, the Liberal leader believes that we can no longer see it as a simple slippage. “When we have used all these words, they are no longer errors. These are deliberate choices you make. He deliberately chooses closure. He deliberately makes the choice of division, ”she believes.
Legault makes “diversion”
Later in the afternoon, Mr.me Anglade returned to the charge to accuse François Legault of creating a diversion by using the words of his minister.
“François Legault cannot hide behind Jean Boulet because he himself made comments that are of the same nature as those of Jean Boulet,” she says.
The exit of the head caquiste, she believes, served to avoid discussing his own economic record, particularly in terms of labor shortages, when he appeared before the Board of Trade of Metropolitan Montreal. “Instead of talking about these issues, he made the comments he made in relation to immigration,” she notes.