In immigration, there are facts and truth.
An example of fact: Quebec and Canada welcome more immigrants than ever. Result? Huge population growth, five times higher than the average for OECD countries.
Another fact: the arrival of immigrants makes it possible to fill key positions in our public services and certain private companies – agricultural land, restaurants, garages, banks, technology companies.
Additional fact: immigration as a remedy for the labor shortage is an illusion. The immigrant relieves a supply, but creates a demand. Marginal effect, therefore.
Another fact: there is a link between immigration and the housing crisis. The main cause of the crisis is not immigration, but it certainly contributes to it.
Don’t forget: Quebec does not have all the powers over immigration, and is subjected, without being consulted, to the policies of another government.
Now the truth is that there are no clear, definitive, easily applicable truths.
Politicians take positions according to their principles, priorities and balances.
It has a name: playing politics.
Respective inconsistencies
But that does not prevent us from raising their inconsistencies.
At the CAQ, try to understand their positions on immigration.
We are faced with a whirlwind of declarations. It’s a puzzle with a thousand pieces, impossible to put together into a whole.
We went from being “suicidal” about accepting more immigrants… to an increase in permanent thresholds, very close to the liberal or solidarity position.
And over the past two years, the number of temporary immigrants has exploded. Literally: an increase of 170,000 temporary immigrants in the last year.
No threshold or language requirement is imposed on temporary immigrants, because according to the Minister of Immigration, Christine Fréchette, “that would mean a planned economy.”
No planning for temporary immigration in government planning, therefore.
Today, oh well, the PM admits to thinking about it.
As such, we could say that the CAQ is indeed the team of change.
The divorced
On the PQ-QS side, we are still in divorced squabbles.
Solidarity activists accuse the PQ of political exploitation by evoking the link between immigration and housing.
But QS recovers the PQ’s “political recovery” by accusing them of targeting immigrants for the housing crisis. Politics is basically recycling.
The deputy responsible for immigration at QS, Guillaume Cliche-Rivard, has the merit of clearly expressing the solidarity position. He speaks of “reception capacity”, and believes that more permanent immigrants and fewer temporary ones are needed.
But when the time comes to identify solutions, he essentially proposes the same thing as the CAQ: more housing and reaching an agreement with the federal government on asylum seekers. Who is against virtue?
QS still touches a PQ blind spot. In wanting to reduce the thresholds, the PQ will have to respond to certain regions and certain companies, including SMEs, which have taken the path of immigration to fill vacant positions.
In the PLQ, the interim leader, Marc Tanguay (not Denis Coderre), arrived in town and took this position: “In the Liberal Party of Quebec, it is good news that we are 9 million […] We’re going to leave it to others to propose shrinking Quebec and closing the borders.”
What to say? Good luck to their next boss?