It was enough to observe the amused look that French President Emmanuel Macron cast on Justin Trudeau while the latter responded Thursday to François Legault’s outing on immigration to understand that we were witnessing a well-honed political performance. from the federal Prime Minister.
By calling on Mr. Trudeau to commit to halving the number of temporary immigrants in Quebec, Mr. Legault offered his federal counterpart a golden opportunity to question the motivations of the Quebec Prime Minister, who is actively trying to divert voters’ attention from his government’s repeated missteps.
“It’s distressing to see the Prime Minister of Quebec share statements on immigration that are downright false,” said Mr. Trudeau alongside the French president during their joint press conference in Montreal.
The federal leader listed the measures taken by his government in recent months to respond to Quebec concerns — including the closure of Roxham Road, the reimposition of visas on Mexican travelers, the tightening of eligibility criteria for temporary foreign workers and the reduction in the number of permits granted to foreign students — and accused Mr. Legault of “wanting to politicize at all costs” an issue that is stirring up tempers. The first criticized the second for delaying presenting a “plan” to “reduce the share of temporary immigration that [le Québec] control “.
Certainly, the accusation of wanting to politicize the issue of immigration can also apply to Mr. Trudeau. His regrettable 2017 tweet in which he assured “those fleeing persecution, terror and war” that “Canada [les] will welcome” testified either to a profound naivety on his part, or to a desire to promote his image as a progressive politician for whom “diversity is our strength”. Real and fake asylum seekers took him at his word and crossed the Canadian border in greater numbers, putting a strain on provincial social services.
The Liberal strategy of massively raising the thresholds for permanent and temporary immigration was intended to boost economic growth while courting immigrant voters from the suburbs of major Canadian cities. However, it did not take long for unexpected consequences to appear. An acute shortage of housing and employment growth lagging behind population growth are among the harmful results of this policy.
It is clear that the federal Minister of Immigration, Marc Miller, has not been sitting idle since his appointment a little over a year ago. The measures taken in recent months to reduce temporary immigration will still take time to achieve the expected results. But we can already see some effects.
Statistics Canada announced this week that the growth rate of the Canadian population decreased to 0.6% during the second quarter of 2024, from 0.8% in the same period in 2023. At 117,836, the net increase in non-permanent residents remained at its highest level. lowest since the start of 2023. This is the “third consecutive quarter in a series of smaller increases in the number of non-permanent residents,” according to the federal agency.
Tightening the eligibility criteria for the Temporary Foreign Worker Program should have the effect of substantially reducing the number of new temporary workers entering the country in the coming months, especially among those in low-wage jobs. Provided, of course, that Ottawa does not turn a blind eye to employers who try to circumvent the new rules.
Meanwhile, real estate brokers are reporting a significant drop in demand for housing in some small Canadian university towns this fall, such as in Kingston and Guelph, Ont., attributable to Mr. Miller’s decision to cap the number of study permits issued to foreign students at a level 35% lower than in 2023. The minister has just announced an additional reduction of 10% for 2025, which arouses the discontent of administrators of the country’s colleges and universities whose business model consists of recruiting foreign students due to higher tuition fees than ‘they pay.
Proof that the Trudeau government’s change of course on immigration is not unanimous in the country, the Canadian business community is also protesting against the measures already announced by the minister.
Others are coming. Mr. Miller must table new permanent immigration targets for the next three years around the 1er November, and it has already foreshadowed a downward revision of the current target of 500,000 new permanent residents for 2025.
Certainly, the Trudeau government is not moving fast enough to make its shift on immigration, according to critics. But we cannot suggest, as Mr. Legault does, that he does nothing. The Quebec Prime Minister said he hoped that Ottawa’s management of the immigration file would become the decisive issue during the next federal elections. And he implored the Bloc Québécois to bring down Mr. Trudeau’s minority government so that the vote takes place as soon as possible. He seems to be counting on Pierre Poilievre’s Conservatives to grant Quebec’s demands on immigration. However, Mr. Poilievre has at most committed to linking the number of immigrants entering the country to the construction of housing, without providing the slightest detail on this.
Emmanuel Macron, being the fine politician that he is, should have been surprised by the amateurism of the Quebec leader, who was outplayed by this old fox Trudeau.