Reiterating his apologies for his controversial statement about immigration, Jean Boulet hopes that he will be judged for his actions rather than this misstep. For his part, François Legault does not exclude that Mr. Boulet finds himself in charge of another ministry after October 3, in the event of the re-election of the CAQ.
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“You can’t define a career on a debate, on a clumsy statement that was made in an hour and a half debate,” said the outgoing immigration minister on Mario Dumont’s show on Thursday. morning.
Mr. Boulet said last week that 80% of immigrants “go to Montreal, do not work, do not speak French, or do not adhere to the values of Quebec society.”
He assures today to be “deeply disappointed” by the remarks he made, and that these do not reflect what he thinks and what he is. “Everyone who knows me knows very well that everything I do is to promote a human welcome for all people who come from abroad,” he said.
Focus
Mr. Boulet considers his statement to be an “error” made in the “heat of the debate”. In response to the question of how the minister in charge of the immigration file can make such an error of fact, he wanted to clarify what he meant.
“The question was how can we accompany immigrants from Montreal to Quebec. And so, I mentioned that 80% of immigrants settled in Montreal and that there are a certain number who cannot find jobs, and that there are a certain number who do not adhere to the common language,” he said.
While he agrees that the situation has improved for immigrants on the job market since 2018, Mr. Boulet believes that there is still a lot of work to be done, in terms of welcoming and personalized support for immigrants. new arrivals in the region.
“The unemployment rate for immigrants, particularly those who have arrived in the last five years, is much higher” than for the rest of the population, he also noted.
Boulet wants to stay
Francois Legault said yesterday that Jean Boulet “disqualified himself” as Minister of Immigration. Asked about this, the principal concerned said that he had a meeting with the outgoing Prime Minister on Wednesday morning, during which the two men would have “understood each other”.
Mr. Boulet would then have expressed to François Legault his desire to pursue his political career “with the maximum of rigor and integrity”.
Partial disqualification
On the sidelines of a press conference in Rouyn-Noranda on Thursday, François Legault said he was satisfied with Jean Boulet’s apologies. “Mr. Boulet is sad, he has made amends, he got carried away in a debate. All the people who know Jean Boulet know that it is not him what he said”, he declared.
The outgoing Prime Minister, however, refused to say that he excused his candidate’s remarks. “I said he was disqualified as a possible minister of immigration,” he said, insisting particularly on the last words of his sentence.
Mr. Legault did not close the door to Mr. Boulet occupying another ministerial post after the election. “We will look at the Council of Ministers from October 4 if we are elected”, he was content to underline.