(Quebec) To increase or not the permanent immigration thresholds to 60,000 per year? That is not the question, according to the Liberal Party of Quebec (PLQ) and the Parti Québécois (PQ).
Upon their arrival at the general consultation on immigration planning on Tuesday, MPs Monsef Derraji and Pascal Bérubé declared that temporary immigrants had to be taken into account.
They denounced the fact that the Minister of Immigration, Christine Fréchette, dismissed this issue.
PHOTO EDOUARD PLANTE-FRÉCHETTE, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES
Monsef Derraji
According to Mr. Bérubé, the consultation – which will last three weeks – is a futile exercise if we do not take into account temporary immigrants, whose number is estimated at more than 300,000.
“These are temporary workers who want to become permanent, this is their entry route, […] let us take all the calculations into account. This is an exercise that is fundamentally biased,” lamented the PQ MP for Matane-Matapédia.
“We are presented with a plan, he says: “There are 300,000 who are there, but don’t look there, look there”. It’s not working, it’s a very bad start for the commission,” he added.
Mme Fréchette must plan immigration to Quebec for the coming years.
PHOTO MARTIN CHAMBERLAND, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES
Christine Fréchette
Last spring, she presented two scenarios: maintain the thresholds at 50,000 permanent immigrants per year, or gradually increase them to 60,000 by 2027.
This was a major turnaround for François Legault’s team, which had declared during the electoral campaign that raising the thresholds beyond 50,000 would be “suicidal”.
If the second option is chosen, the thresholds could even exceed 60,000, because graduates from the Quebec Experience Program (PEQ) would not be counted.
There would also be no cap for this category.
“For us, the objective is to find a balance between the protection of French and also addressing the labor shortage,” Minister Fréchette declared at the press scrum.
She added at the same time that she was considering requiring better knowledge of French for temporary immigration.
On Tuesday, Mr. Bérubé reiterated that his party is in favor of reducing immigration thresholds, while Mr. Derraji demanded an overall picture in order to properly measure Quebec’s reception capacity.
“Let’s have a real consultation,” he said. [Le premier ministre] François Legault, since he came to power, controls the front door and leaves the garage door open with the temporary workers. »
Nearly 80 submissions were submitted to the committee, which is almost double what was received in 2019 during the last consultation on immigration.