Prime Minister François Legault qualified his remarks on immigration on Wednesday, while closing the door on the idea of raising Quebec’s reception threshold to 58,000 newcomers per year.
During a press briefing before question period, Mr. Legault noted that Quebec is already a welcoming society. “With 50,000 immigrants a year, we are one of the peoples in the world that receives, all things considered, the most immigrants,” he said. It is more than in the United States. It is more than in France. »
Mr. Legault has been the target of criticism since the weekend after calling for new powers in immigration by suggesting that the situation of French in Quebec should be prevented from deteriorating to the point of comparing itself to Louisiana.
In recent days, Mr. Legault has justified his reasoning by relying on the decline of French as the language spoken at home in Quebec. On Wednesday, he added working language to his equation. “When you look at the statistics, the statistics that exist, [pour] the language most used at home, there is a decline, he said. The language most used at work, there is a decline. So we cannot deny that there is a decline in the place of French in Quebec. Then it becomes a matter of time. »
The Specter of Louisiana
As for his comparison with Louisiana, Mr. Legault acknowledged that it is difficult to determine the speed of the decline of French that could occur if Quebec did not obtain all the powers over its immigration, including those of the family reunification. “I think it helps bring about a debate that is real,” he said. It’s that from the moment there is a decline, well there, we can make a projection. Will it take 25 years, 50 years, 60 years? But, from the moment there is a decline, well, everyone who wants the next generations to speak French should be concerned. »
At the Blue Room, the parliamentary leader of Quebec solidaire, Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois, affirmed that Mr. Legault had accomplished a “spectacular” step backwards by adding data on French at work to his analysis.
On Tuesday, the Prime Minister gave fuel to the Liberal opposition by describing the situation of MP Saul Polo, whose family is of immigrant origin and who speaks French, as an anecdote. Mr. Legault explained this on Wednesday. “What I wanted to say [mardi], is that we can take examples like his to say that “yes, he learned French”, but these are examples. You have to look at the overall picture, then the overall picture is that French is in decline in Quebec,” he specified.
No increase in the annual immigration threshold
Mr. Legault rejected Wednesday a proposal for an expert report, commissioned by the government, which underlines that failing to increase the annual threshold of immigration from 50,000 to 58,000 people, the population of Quebec will decline.
Last week, the Minister of Immigration, Jean Boulet, did an about-face after having first judged that this proposal was reasonable. “He retracted, underlined Mr. Legault. There is no question of raising the threshold to 50,000, we believe that we have reached the integration capacity. »
Mr. Legault was not worried about the impact of maintaining the status quo, which could cause a drop in the Quebec population. “What we want is to increase wealth per capita, GDP per capita,” he said.
At the Blue Salon, Mr. Polo argued that Mr. Boulet, also Minister of Labor and Employment, had been forced to change his mind after finding that the lack of labor requires an increase in immigration . “By daring to go against the line of thought, the line dictated by the Prime Minister, the Minister of Employment had to join the ranks and was publicly rebuffed,” he said. It’s serious: the minister was forced to contradict himself because he dared to say out loud what many people are thinking quietly around the Prime Minister. »