If there is one issue that is suitable for the management of the platform, it is immigration.
It is easy to engage in adjective surveillance, looking for the word that sticks out to lecture. Just as it is easy to advocate seemingly simple solutions, such as an immediate reduction in the number of immigrants, without knowing how to go about it in practice.
The announcement by the CAQ government proves the complexity of the issue. On the one hand, Quebec’s Minister of Immigration, Christine Fréchette, is accused of resorting to timid half-measures. On the other, she is criticized for treating immigrants like labour and using them as scapegoats to justify the failures of public services.
PHOTO MARCO CAMPANOZZI, THE PRESS
Christine Fréchette, Quebec Minister of Immigration, and Premier François Legault, Tuesday, in Montreal
Temporary immigration alone does not explain the housing crisis or the shortage of teachers. These problems have existed for several years, and their causes are multiple. But they are indeed aggravated by the explosion in the number of temporary immigrants. In the last two years, it has doubled – from 300,000 to 600,000.
It is fair to say that in education, for example, teachers’ working conditions are the source of the shortage. But adding nearly 16,000 immigrant students to the network this year does not make things any easier for those who want to reverse the trend.
The CAQ government talks about the “urgency” of reducing the number of immigrants, but in reality, it is proceeding in a cautious and gradual manner.
Starting in September, Quebec will freeze the issuance and renewal of temporary closed work permits, but only for six months, for jobs located on the Island of Montreal that pay less than $57,000. An exemption is also provided for the health, education, construction, agriculture and food processing sectors.
Why just in Montreal? Because that’s where French is weakened, replies Prime Minister Legault. Barely 3,500 people will be affected, Quebec recognizes.
This is the equivalent of a pilot project. The measure could be renewed and expanded depending on the observed effect. However, pitfalls are already appearing. I am not highlighting them to distribute blame, but rather to show how difficult it is to act in this matter.
Temporary workers who cannot renew their permits will be able to go to the regions, says Mr.me Fréchette. This leaves them only two weeks to find accommodation and, in some cases, change their child’s school.
The CAQ government says it prioritizes temporary immigrants with well-paid jobs. However, at the same time, Quebec remains the only province that does not limit the percentage of immigrant employees in low-wage jobs. This clause, negotiated with Ottawa and renewed by the CAQ, opens the doors to cheap labour.
Employer lobbies do not want to ask their members to innovate in order to become productive. They prefer to resort to the virtuous discourse on immigration, which they take advantage of to meet their needs without having to rethink their operations.
Quebec is thus torn between pressure from citizens and that of business circles. It is looking for an administratively applicable solution within a heavy bureaucracy. And also politically profitable.
For a politician, it is risky to tell a population that its concern is unfounded. When this population is also lectured by people who do not feel the effects of the remedies they advocate, the backlash is inevitable. We have seen it in Sweden and Germany, among others.
At the federal level, a surprise turnaround: the Liberals are promising a small reduction in immigration. And in the English Canadian media, we are now reading texts that recognize that immigration has a limited impact on the labour shortage and the aging of the population.
Proof that public opinion is shifting, the federal government seemed satisfied with the CAQ measure. So much so that the information was revealed to the CBC, claiming that it was a decision by the Liberals.
Even if Ottawa has to approve it, it remains a program primarily managed by Quebec. Federal ministers were therefore not welcome at the press conference. The message from the CAQ government: make your own announcement.
The Quebec moratorium is intended to put pressure on the Trudeau government to also reduce the number of temporary immigrants.
But from a Canadian perspective, Mr. Legault lacks coherence. He urges the federal government to reduce temporary immigration by half. However, Quebec is far from this target. Its Montreal moratorium corresponds to a decrease of only 7% of temporary workers under its authority.
The CAQ government will table a bill at the start of the parliamentary year to obtain the power to limit the number of foreign students per institution or region. Among other things, it would target bogus professional schools that grant quick and expensive diplomas to students to ultimately give them access to citizenship. It remains to be seen how Quebec will achieve a significant reduction in students without harming regional CEGEPs and without depriving itself of young talent in universities.
Mr. Legault wants to protect strategic sectors and find the right balance. The problem for him is that the federal government will say it wants the same thing. Because in both capitals, this is an issue that becomes less clear when you look at it under a microscope.