Controversial remarks on immigration | Legault apologizes and says he wants to “gather”

(L’Étape and Victoriaville) François Legault apologizes if he associated immigration with violence on Wednesday. He assures us that he wants to “gather” on this subject, whereas he was worried earlier in the day, estimating that the number of newcomers that Ottawa wishes to welcome poses an “integration challenge” in terms of the protection of values, the safety and way of life of Quebecers.

Hugo Pilon Larose
The Press

During a press briefing in Victoriaville on Wednesday afternoon, the leader of the Coalition avenir Québec (CAQ) was concerned about the position of the government of Justin Trudeau, who wishes to welcome nearly 450,000 immigrants to the country from 2023. This threshold is increasing compared to what it was a few years ago. Mr. Legault asserted that this policy “pos[ait] a great integration challenge [pour] the kind of society we want”.

“We still have values ​​in our society and we have talked a lot about secularism in recent years. That’s one of the values. Also, respect. We see, there is a way of life at home and we want to keep it, ”said Mr. Legault.

What values ​​could be threatened by an excessive influx of immigrants?

Mr. Legault also cited “Bill 21” on state secularism as a Quebec value to be protected.

“I look at what happened in Germany and what happened in many countries. It’s always a challenge, the integration of newcomers. Canada, with the thresholds set by Mr. Trudeau, almost becomes a country in the world among those that will receive, all things considered, the most newcomers. There is an integration challenge. “, he added.

Quickly, his opponents condemned his remarks (see below in the text). On the way to Roberval, the CAQ leader finally apologized on Twitter.

“Immigration is an asset for Quebec. Integration will always be a challenge for a French-speaking nation in North America. I didn’t want to associate immigration with violence. I’m sorry if my comments caused confusion. My will is to gather, ”he wrote.

“It sickens me”, says Anglade

Liberal leader Dominique Anglade denounced not once, not twice, but three times the words of François Legault.

After saying at a press briefing in Laval that the CAQ leader made “an extremely dangerous amalgamation” between violence and immigration, she wrote on social networks that “this kind of speech has no place in Quebec. “.

Then Dominique Anglade recorded a video in which she raises her voice. “It really came to get me. It sickens me. It sickens me because I think of my three children and the last thing I want to instill in them is fear of others, fear of difference. We are 8.5 million Quebecers. We are open to the world, we have different origins. We must unite not divide, and François Legault always seeks to divide us. It is unworthy for me. She gave it during a speech in a crowded electoral office in Vimont.

In the evening, after Mr. Legault retracted, the Liberal leader said that, according to her, this is an attempt by her communications team to “put the toothpaste back in the tube” and that the chief caquiste has, ultimately, delivered the substance of his thought earlier in the day.

The parliamentary leader of Québec solidaire, Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois, described François Legault’s remarks as a “slippage [qui] deteriorates the social climate”.

“François Legault, he has some flaws, but I will give him a quality. He is a man who says what he thinks. And today, he made a connection between immigrants and violence. So I conclude that he thinks there is a link between immigrants and violence,” he said. According to him, this remark means that Mr. Legault does not “deserve” to be prime minister since these remarks “feed prejudice”.

The leader of the Conservative Party, Éric Duhaime, believes that François Legault has “crossed a line”. “It’s obvious that all Quebecers actually want our immigrants to be better integrated. […] But at the same time, to start saying that it’s a threat and that there’s an idea of ​​violence in it, or that we couldn’t be a peaceful society anymore, I think that’s where it crosses a line that may not be entirely acceptable,” he said.

As for the leader of the Parti Québécois, Paul St-Pierre Plamondon, he did not want to go very far. “It’s so vague, what François Legault said, I don’t even know what it means concretely in terms of public policy,” he explained.

Pablo Rodriguez stirred

The exit of François Legault provoked that of Justin Trudeau’s lieutenant in Quebec, Pablo Rodriguez. He appeared with misty eyes at the microphone installed not far from the hall of the Vancouver hotel where the Liberal cabinet is meeting for its pre-sessional retreat. Without wanting to attach a label to the tenor of the remarks of the premier of Quebec, the minister who arrived as a political refugee from Argentina, whose family was fleeing the dictatorial regime, regretted the message that they were sending.

During his press scrum earlier in the day, Mr. Legault said that other provincial premiers elsewhere in Canada shared his concerns about the integration of immigrants. He hadn’t meant which ones.

For the past few days, François Legault has been defending his approach to immigration. He promises to welcome a maximum of 50,000 newcomers per year if he is re-elected, even if this reduces the demographic weight of Quebec in Canada. The CAQ is also asking Ottawa to give it full powers in matters of immigration.

On Wednesday, the CAQ leader added the aspect of values ​​for the first time to the election campaign to explain why he did not want to raise the immigration threshold to the level that would allow him to maintain Quebec’s demographic weight, based on the number immigrants welcomed elsewhere in the country.

With the collaboration of Tommy Chouinard, Charles Lecavalier, Fanny Lévesque, Mylène Crête and Mélanie Marquis, The Press