In the short term, the Parti Québécois wants to reduce the immigration thresholds to 40,000. But a sovereign Quebec will have to welcome more immigrants, maintains the PQ candidate in Marie-Victorin, Pierre Nantel.
“Independence is not a dream, a wish, it is a necessity, it is a necessity both at the cultural level and at the level of having our full control of immigration to welcome better and more, because we want people who will come to build this great project in Quebec!”, he launched Wednesday, during a debate of the candidates of the partial on the airwaves of FM 103.3.
Called to clarify his thoughts, the aspiring MP pointed out that Quebec does not currently have the means to welcome more newcomers, in particular because of our limited capacity to francize them.
“We currently have very little control over immigration and we are being drowned in Canadian multiculturalism,” he insisted. According to Pierre Nantel, the annual thresholds should be reduced to “about 40,000”.
But once independence has been achieved and after obtaining full control of its immigration, Quebec will then have to “open the floodgates” to newcomers. “In an independent Quebec, we will want to welcome more and more immigrants and welcome them well, in French,” he said.
The PCQ promotes “civilizational compatibility”
According to the conservative candidate Anne Casabonne, it is necessary to better select newcomers, by prioritizing in particular “civilizational compatibility”.
An expression that startled her liberal rival. Brandishing this concept can lead to division, judge Émilie Nolet. “It’s a slippery slope, argued the PLQ candidate during the oratorical contest. I think it’s dangerous to talk about that.
The actress and conservative candidate tempered: “You shouldn’t get upset like that, because it’s just to be compatible with our charters, it’s to believe in equality between men and women, it’s to accept the homosexuals is to accept the LGBT+ community,” she said.
It was not possible to find out on Wednesday which “civilizations” are not compatible with the Quebec and Canadian Charters of Rights and Freedoms, according to the Conservative Party of Quebec. Our questions remained unanswered.
Marie-Victorin’s by-election will be held on April 11. This partial was triggered following the resignation of independent MP Catherine Fournier, who was elected mayoress of Longueuil.